


Not Like This

by kaseycyan



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-26 03:46:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 52,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/646198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaseycyan/pseuds/kaseycyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU! Harry and Louis (along with Niall, Zayn, and Liam) attend the high school Benton High. Louis and Harry never really tried to be friends.  Liam would always push them together, which would cause them to push further away instead.  When they first met, they both felt this connection with the other one, and it scared them.  They were afraid what might happen if they let the feelings control them.  But will they become friends?  Will their ‘relationship’ be as its suppose to be?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic ever, so keep that in mind. I hope you enjoy. :)

It’s the first day of the new school year. The students are having mixed emotions about this year. Some are excited to be back, and some just don’t want their summer holiday to be over and done with. Most of the students are crowding in the halls, catching up with friends they haven’t spoken to since last year.

Harry Styles could be counted as one of those students as he stood by the front entrance of the school talking with his good mate Niall Horan. Harry and the Irish lad had spent a lot of time together over the summer. Niall could always make Harry laugh, and he just had this good vibe about him. Harry had also spent most of his summer with his best mate, Liam Payne.

Liam was more of a serious fella. Not to say he was serious all the time, no Harry couldn’t handle that. Liam was just more mature.  He always seemed to know what was wrong and he seemed to know how you were feeling and what was the proper way to make you feel better.

Harry was glad he had Niall and Liam with him. Sure, the curly haired boy had tons of friends, but Niall and Liam were his closest, and he would always choose them over anyone. (Besides his family, of course.) Harry was a popular guy amongst the students at Benton High.

He was 17 years old, he was very fit, he could sing, and he was a major flirt. Not just with the ladies either, he charmed whoever he pleased. He didn’t really think about it much, nor did he care what others thought.

“..so then she was like  _‘Oh, I mustn’t do that, what would my mother say!’_  I swear, she was the worst date to go on.  Beware Harry, when you pick up a girl you know nothing about, make sure she isn’t crazy. ” Niall told Harry, and Harry laughed. He didn’t really hear the whole story, but the voices Niall made were priceless.

“I’ll keep that in mind the next time I decide to pick up some random girl at a bar.” Harry said still grinning and shaking his head slightly.

Niall opened his mouth to reply, but the bell rang and interrupted.  Time to head to their first class.  It was always the same every year, nothing new.

“Come on mate, lets head to class. I’m sure Liam will be there.” Harry said, noticing the way Niall was looking around for their missing friend.  Liam usually met Niall and Harry by the doors and they would mess around before school.  Maybe Liam got a head start to the class, that nerd.

Niall nodded his head and turned to walk towards their class “Like Li-Li would miss the first day of school anyways.” Niall smirked, and Harry couldn’t help but grin at that as well.  That was very true, Liam never missed any days.  He would probably go mental if he missed the first day.

The two of them made their way to their first class, and noticed the teacher still wasn’t there yet. However, sitting in the middle section was Liam. And sitting by Liam was Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik.

Harry stopped a couple feet into the classroom, making Niall bump into him from behind. Harry shot an apology towards him, and went to sit by Liam or behind him more like. Harry tried to stay away from Louis, he didn’t want to start trouble on the first day of school.

Louis and Harry weren’t exactly ‘friends’ in fact most of the school would probably say they hated each other. Harry didn’t have a problem with Zayn much. He seemed like an alright bloke. Niall and Liam knew Zayn more than Harry did.

Nobody knew what actually started the bitter relationship between Louis and Harry. Harry didn’t even know himself. Maybe it was the way Louis looked? The way his hair always seemed to be perfect.  It always looked so soft, sometimes he just wanted to run his hands through it, but at the same time he didn’t want to mess with perfection. Or it could be the way Louis would dress, in stripes and braces looking like a sailor and still managed to look cute. Harry stopped himself from those thoughts. He could not be having those right now.

Harry looked towards Niall, who sat beside him caught up in a conversation he was having with Zayn in front of him. So he changed his focus and looked at Liam in front of him, who was staring at Harry.

“What?” Harry asked Liam, had he asked him something?

“I asked you if you were coming over to mine after school.” Liam said, narrowing his eyes at Harry, obviously working that brain of his.

“Yeah sure.” Harry said with a smile. “Who else would be there?”

Liam couldn’t answer that, as the teacher, Mr. Boyd, walked in the room clearing his throat loudly. “Good morning.” He said, as he set down his coffee and briefcase on his desk. “Sorry I’m late. I had a bit of traffic in the halls.” Harry glanced into the empty hallway as he said that. Mr. Boyd was an alright guy. He wasn’t too hard with his grading, yet he was an odd one.

“So, since this is English, I would like to try to improve on every one’s writing.” He opened his briefcase and got out notebooks while he spoke. “I’m hoping this new activity will help you all improve.” He started passing out the notebooks to the class. “This will be your journal. Everyday I will assign you a new journal topic for you to write about. I will not read these, so feel free to write your responses as you wish. I will however be collecting the journals at the end of each week, checking to see that you  _actually_  wrote in them.” He looked at Niall as he said this, and Harry couldn’t help but chuckle, which in turn he receive a crumbed up piece of paper tossed at him. 

“Now, I would like you all to open the journals to the first page, and just write about the most interesting thing that happened to you over the summer.” Mr. Boyd said as he sat down at his desk, starting to organize his desk and checking the attendance. 

Harry looked down at his journal, it was green just like his eyes. He opened up to the first page, then realized he didn’t have anything to write with.  _Classic, show up to school on the first day with nothing but yourself and your cell phone, nice going Harry._ He thought to himself.

“Hey Li-Li, do you have a pen I could borrow?” Harry asked nudging Liam in the back.

He smiled and nodded in thanks when Liam turned around and gave him a pen.

“Nice one Styles,” A voice said from beside Liam. Harry knew that voice. That voice made gooseflesh run up Harry’s arms. He turned to took at Louis. “Forgetting to bring the proper materials to school. How could you forget that?” Louis teased.   _Why couldn’t Tomlinson just mind is own fucking buisness and write in his journal like everyone else?_   Harry thought.  

“Oh I’m sorry, I was too busy with your mum to actually remember to bring a pen to class.” Harry shot back at Louis.

“Watch what you say about my mother.” Louis said, his eyes burnt into Harry, but Harry wasn’t scared of Louis. 

“I will once you start minding your own damn business.”  _Well, there goes not starting trouble on the first day of school. Well technically I didn’t start it, Mr. Big Mouth over there did._  He thought once more. With a roll of his eyes, Harry turned his attention to the journal entry.

 _What was the most interesting thing to happen to me over summer?_  He thought to himself. Well, he attended a couple of house parties. He ended it with his last girl friend, Claire, that only lasted a few weeks. We went to Paris, with his mother and sister. He also went to America and hooked up with two people. He met Madison in L.A. while at the beach, but she was kinda boring after awhile and she wouldn’t stop calling him. Then he’d met Steven, oh he was fit.  Plus afterwards Steven didn’t even seem to care what Harry did.  It was exactly what Harry wanted. But the most interesting thing was probably getting a new cat – or kitten. 

Harry liked cats. His mum had finally gave in and let him have a cat. He named her Lucy. She was gray and she had dark brown stripes in her fur. Her eyes were big and a light brown color. She always slept in Harry’s bed. He grew quite fond of the feline.

He’d never had an animal before. Lucy would always follow him around when he was home. She would sit on his lap while he watched the telly. And if he was talking or his attention was elsewhere other than her, she would paw at him until he noticed her.

He thought it was the cutest thing ever. 

It took him by surprise when his journal was stolen away from him. “What are you writing about that has you  _that_  focused.” Niall said as he read through it. Harry sighed and put the pen in his pocket, he might need it later on in his other classes. He’ll give it back to Liam later. “Really Harry?” Niall laughed. 

Liam turned around to look at Harry. Niall is loud, usually he can be heard from talking down the hall. Apparently he was loud enough to disturb Liam from his journal, which takes some skill. Liam raised a questioning eye at Harry, then looked at Niall. Harry felt eyes on him, probably from the people around them, the people who Niall disturbed. Why couldn’t they mind their own business and write about their summer?

“Harry did you really write about your cat?” Niall asked, still laughing and his face going red.

“Uh, yeah.” Harry said, and scratched the back of his neck. He looked around and noticed some people still eavesdropping on their conversation. Like Zayn, Louis, Niall’s friend Sean, a quiet girl named Eleanor that was supposedly dating Louis, and Harry’s friend Abby. 

“Your cat? Why not your trip to the States, or to Paris?” Liam asked but he had a smile on his face.

“My cat was more interesting than those trips.” Harry said simply shrugging his shoulder. 

“Is your cat as fit as Madison? Or that other person? Who was it?” Niall wondered.

“Steven.” Liam helped out. 

“Yes. Lucy is better than Madison or Steven. Although they were a good company, she sticks around and cares.” Harry said, grabbing for his notebook.

“Oh, I bet.” Niall said. “ _I love having Lucy around. She shares my bed, and it’s nice having warmth next to you when you fall asleep and knowing it will still be there when you wake up._ ” Niall read from the journal, changing his voice trying to mimic Harry. Harry just shook his head and snatched the notebook from Niall’s hold. 

“Alright, what did you write about then?” Harry asked, folding his arms over his chest.

“I wrote about my time in Ireland last month. You know that party I told you about, and met that cute girl, Janet?” Harry nodded. “Well me and her have been meeting up every so often and hanging out. So I wrote about that.”

“Niall, you wrote about a girl?” Liam asked.

“’Hanging out’? Yeah right.” Zayn said at the same time, joining the conversation.

“Indeed I did, Liam. Don’t sound so surprised.” Niall smiled and chose to ignore Zayn. “I’m a changed man.” 

“Niall, you were just telling me earlier about you and some girl you hooked up with at a bar a couple nights ago.” Harry rolled his eyes at Niall, but put on a smile as he turned towards Liam. “So what did you write about, Li-Li?” 

“I wrote about the two turtles I got for my birthday.” Liam said, smiling back at Harry. Harry didn’t feel that weird now, he and Liam both wrote about their pets. “But they’re dead.” Liam said sadly. 

Harry looked at Liam. His turtles were dead? His birthday was only a few weeks ago.  How did he manage to kill turtles in a matter of a few weeks? Still, Harry felt bad for Liam, he hated thinking about his life without Lucy. 

“Yeah, I was over at Li’s house when he found them. It was tragic.” Louis said, putting a hand to his heart making it dramatic. 

Why was Louis over at Liam’s house? Harry knew they were mates and all. Well, it seemed like everyone was mates besides Louis and Harry.  _But still why was Louis at his house? Were they just hanging out? When was this? Where was I when this was going on?_  Harry wondered. He stopped himself and ignored Louis, who had taken up a conversation with Liam and Eleanor about the turtles.  

Harry sighed and turned towards Abby. He smiled at her when he realized that she was watching him. Abby had blonde hair, she was short and had big brown eyes that looked black most of the time. She was attractive, just not really Harry’s type. But Harry was her type, she made that clear a lot. But Harry and Abby had been friends for almost two years now, it would be awkward if they did anything. 

Abby was a great girl and he didn’t want to lose the friendship they had just because they had hooked up. Abby would want to be more, to be in a committed relationship. Harry didn’t want that. He wanted to mess around for awhile. He was 17 for fucks sake. 

“Hi Harry. How was your summer?” Abby asked him, shaking him from his thoughts. Her voice was light, and she always sounded like she was just ill. It sounded cute in a way, well she was cute just again, not his type.

“It was good. Did a bit of traveling and spend time with the family. I also got a cat.” Harry said and smiled. He thought of Lucy back at home. He wondered what she was doing. Probably walking around the house following his mum around. Or she could be sleeping. She slept a lot. 

“Yes, I heard about your cat.” She said, motioning towards Niall. But she was smiling, so that was a good thing. “Where did you travel to?” 

Harry sworn he could have told Abby where he was going, I mean he had text her constantly during the summer. “I went to Paris for a few weeks, I have family there.Then I went to the states.” Harry decided to answer.

“Oh, yeah. I remembering you saying something about that.” Abby said. He figured Abby had known the whole time. She probably just asked so she wouldn’t sound too clingy. “Anyways, whats your transcript like?” 

Harry pulled out his transcript and read it with her. He hadn’t really looked at it. He knew he had English first. He always had just like every year with the same people in the class. He and Abby looked at what he had next. Which was maths, then he had a free period, chemistry, history, and last psychology. 

“Looks like we have chemistry together as well.” Abby said grinning. Of course they did. He sighed but put on a smile. 

The bell finally rang, and Harry couldn’t wait to get out of this class. It seemed to take so long. “See you in chemistry, Abby.” Harry shot over his shoulder as he walked with Liam out of the classroom. I could have sworn he heard ‘Oh, yes you will.’

The rest of the day seemed to drag on just as slow as his first class. Harry couldn’t wait for the last five minutes of psychology to be over and done with. He had learned that Niall had maths and chemistry with him. Liam had all the same courses besides psychology. Louis Tomlinson had just about every course with him, besides maths. Of course, what luck Harry had. And Zayn Malik had one other class with him, which was the free period. He didn’t mind Zayn. He was a good person to talk to.

Harry looked around the class, it was a small but those were the best classes. This class would hopefully be good, even though this was his only class without any of his best friends. He could always go talk to someone, but he wasn’t interested in starting up a conversation about his summer – again. 

As the bell rang and the class was dismissed, Harry rushed out of there. He had found Niall in the hall, well that was because Niall was yelling some song he probably just had listened to. Harry sent a text to Liam, saying he was going home first to shower and tell his mum what was going on. Anne liked to know what Harry was doing. She didn’t really care much about what or who he was doing, she just wanted to know where her baby was at all times. 

Niall tagged along with Harry, coming home with him.

“I finally want to meet this amazing Lucy you keep mentioning!” Niall said, while They were driving towards Harry’s house. 

“Niall, you are the one that keeps mentioning her. I’m thinking about getting you a cat, just to shut you up.” Harry said, turning right down his street.

“Hey!” Niall said, then shrugged. “At least I get free pussy!” Harry pulled into his driveway and laughed. He was glad he was home because he was laughing so hard he would have probably wrecked.

“You stay away from my pussy.” Harry told Niall as he got out of his car. 

Now this time, Niall was in histarics as they walked inside. “Mum! I’m home!” Harry yelled as he walked through the door. “Niall is here too!” Harry headed up the stairs, after he closed the front door. He paused and turned towards Niall. “Don’t try anything with my mum. Or my cat.” Harry said seriously, knowing how Niall and Liam think his mum is fit. Zayn met her once, and said something, but he paid little attention to that.

So Harry went and got in the shower. Rinsing off the smell of school from him.

Everyday when Harry comes home from school, he showers. He hates the feeling of ‘school’ being lingered on his skin. He never knew the reason, but he’d always done it.  It was like is daily routine.  

After the quick shower, Harry pulled on some underwear, then some black faded skinny jeans along with a white polo shirt. Casual. Liam said they were hanging out, so Harry dressed down a bit. He usually wore blazers. It was his thing, he loved them. He also always wore too many bracelets on his wrists. 

Niall usually wore polo’s, hoodie’s, or a simple zip up jacket. Liam on the other hand always wore plaid. Like literally, always. Harry preferred not to wear clothes at all, but he’d settle for his blazers. He’d even start collecting them. 

No more than ten minutes after Harry got out of the shower, he ran downstairs, grabbed Niall, told his mother goodbye and headed over towards Liam’s house. 

Niall kept talking about Lucy saying that Harry didn’t give her enough credit. She was apparently the cutest kitten Niall has ever seen. Great, now Niall was smitten with Harry’s cat, just what Harry needed. They had a good laugh over to Liam’s, who only lived a block over.

Harry parked his car on the curb and climbed out. Running a hand through his curls, he walked up the path towards the door. He’d known Liam for years, since they were kids. But he’d known Liam’s mum hated when the boys would walk through her front door without knocking. Sure she loved them, but that was one of her biggest pet peeves. So Harry learned to knock, for her sake.

So that’s what he did. He knocked three times and waited. Niall got impatient after ten seconds and decided to open the door. He didn’t have to as the door already opened. And Louis Tomlinson was on the other side of the door.


	2. Chapter Two

To say Harry was shocked would be an understatement. What even confused Harry more was the fact that Niall didn’t even seemed to be surprised to see Louis Tomlinson opening their best mates door. Sure, Liam and Louis were friends, but why was he here? Niall knew he was here? He knew and didn’t tell Harry – well Harry really couldn’t blame Niall for that. But why hadn’t Liam told Harry? Even if it was a ‘Hey Harry, just a heads up, Louis Tomlinson will be at my house later when you arrive’. It still would have been nice.

Well to be fair, Harry did ask Liam who would be there. But Liam didn’t answer. Why was he worrying about this. Who cares if Louis was there, right? Harry would just ignore him. Harry knew that wasn’t true but he told himself that anyways.

 Harry realized they were all just standing there. Harry and Louis looking at each other, and Niall looking back and forth between them. Harry couldn’t take his eyes off of Louis. Those beautiful blue orbs were staring at him, just simply staring. There wasn’t any hatred or dislike – none that Harry could tell. A wave of goosebumps ran up Harry’s arm, but he still didn’t look away.  

Well, he didn’t look away until Niall spoke. “Hey Lou.” 

‘Lou’? Were they buddy-buddy now? When did this happen? What happened over summer that Harry missed? 

“Nialler!” Louis grinned big, as if just now noticing Niall was there as well. He shook a hand through Niall’s blonde hair as Niall pushed past Louis to go inside.  _Great,_  Harry thought. Niall had left him. Alone. With Louis.

Harry didn’t make eye contact again, he was afraid this time he wouldn’t be able to look away. So instead, he stared down at his feet. It was kind of awkward, those two just standing there and Harry hoped Louis would say something, or follow Niall inside. He should just push pass Louis like Niall did, that was probably what Louis expected. No, he wanted to fix things with Louis. Whatever things needed to be fixed. He was just tired of this constant arguing, and Harry is afraid he is going to be seeing a lot more of Louis. 

Liam would always try to get the two to fix whatever the problem was they had with each other. Make them act at least somewhat civil with each other. It almost never worked. Harry would always get upset with Liam about trying to tell him who to be friends with, then Harry would take it out on Louis. Who in return would retaliate. Multiple times Liam tried to to find things the both had in common. They did have a lot in common, same taste in music, football teams, and even school subjects. But it never went past that. The boys never made any attempt to try to be friendly with one another. 

Harry wanted to fix that. Trying wouldn’t hurt, would it? So Harry looked up at Louis, who was watching Harry. He felt his face heat up knowing Louis’ eyes were on him. He put a small smile on his face and Louis let out small sigh.  

“Are you just going to stand there, Harry?” Louis asked. He didn’t say it like he wanted to be rude, more like curious. 

“I didn’t want to push pass you like Niall did.” Harry said, even to his own ears it sounded like a lame excuse. But to his surprise, Louis laughed. The laugh made Harry smile, and gave him more confidence to take the next step. Maybe they could be civil with each other after all. “I actually wanted to talk to you.”  

Louis’ face fell and he got more serious. “Well? Go ahead.” He said a bit rudely. Harry frowned, he wasn’t expecting the change in Louis’ tone. He all of a sudden got nervous and slightly aggravated. Maybe they couldn’t after all. 

“You know what, never mind.” Harry said then pushed past Louis and went inside. He ignored the feeling in his arm he got when his arm brushed Louis’. He ignored the weird feeling that moved around in his stomach. 

Walking into the living room, Harry found Liam tidying up a bit. Typical Liam. The room was already spotless, what more could he do to it? 

Liam looked up at Harry noticing his presence. Harry smiled at Liam and plopped himself down on the couch. He earned a glare from Liam when he did. “Oh Li-Li, the room is already spotless. Enjoy life instead of worrying for once.”   
   
“I’m not worrying.” Liam told Harry. Then he smiled knowingly. “So, did you have a talk with Louis? Niall said you two were out there, how did he put it ‘ _Gazing into each others eyes_ ’.” He laughed, and Harry felt his face heat up once more.

“We weren’t gazing into each others eyes, Li. I was trying to be civil. I thought it would work. But then he had to go and be a stupid jerk.” Harry said and crossed his arms defensively.

“What did he do Harry?” 

“I asked him if I could talk with him, and he was laughing before. Then he got all serious and basically told me to spit it out, like he didn’t have time to hear my petty nonsense.” Harry sulked.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that. Louis is a nice guy. Want me to talk to him?” Liam offered.

“No, please don’t Liam. I don’t want this to become a big thing.”   
Harry thought Liam was about to speak, before they both heard Louis’ laugh and both turned towards the sound. 

Louis emerged from the kitchen doorway. His face was white, covered in what appeared to be whipped cream? Icing? Whatever it was, Louis was licking his lips trying to get it off from around his mouth. Harry grinned at the sight. 

“Louis!” Liam bellowed, getting up and running over towards the white faced man. “Don’t get any on the carpet.” Harry watched as Liam looked around the carpet for any white stains. Then Liam started guiding Louis towards the bathroom to clean off his face. 

“If you think this is bad, you should see Zayn.” Louis said with a laugh. Liam’s face froze and he looked at Harry with wide eyes.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Harry said, getting up and walking to the kitchen.

Honestly, what did Liam expect. Liam should have known not to leave Niall alone in the kitchen. When he walked into the kitchen, he found Niall standing that the counter, stirring something in a bowl. It looked like chocolate. Zayn was seated in a chair next to Niall. His face was brown because he was covered in chocolate. Well, besides for the part around his eyes. 

Niall looked up and smiled at Harry. “I heard Liam yell, I’m assuming he found Lou?” Harry only nodded and walked towards the boy with the bowl. Niall began to put more chocolate on Zayn’s face. “The idiot shoved his whole face in the cream. Now Zayn’s mask won’t be complete.” He shrugged his shoulders as if to say ‘oh well’. 

“Why are you even letting Niall put that on you? And when did you find the time to make this? We’ve only arrived like ten minutes ago.” Harry asked the two boys, and started cleaning up what he could. Niall would have a fit if Harry touched any of the things he was using.

“He said I looked delicious. So who am I to stop him after he gave me such a nice compliment.” Zayn said giving Harry a sideways smile.

“I came in here, and Zayn was already making brownies. So, I decided why not.” Niall said putting the last of the brownie mix on Zayn’s face.

“And Zayn, you don’t mind Niall getting brownie mix in your hair?” Harry asked, knowing what the outcome would be like.

“Niall!” Zayn shrieked. 

“It’s only a little bit.” Niall waved it off. “Liam! Do you have a hair drier? Unless you want me to put Zayn’s face in the oven?” 

Zayn’s eyes went wide, and he flew out of the chair, and hid behind a laughing Harry.

****

Harry and Niall stayed at Liam’s for awhile after Niall chocolatized Zayn. It took Liam a good half hour to get the hardening chocolate off of Zayn’s face. After that, Niall had to apologize repeatedly to get Liam to calm down. Harry thought Liam was actually on the verge of a heart attack. But he helped Liam out by cleaning up Niall’s mess. 

When Liam did finally calm down, the five of them decided to order a pizza. Two pizzas to be exact. They sat at the kitchen table, Liam didn’t trust them to mess up the rest of his house with pizza sauce. If Harry wasn’t afraid he’d be murdered, he would have helped Niall out and make excuses for him. Niall just looked so sad, but Harry knew it was an act, he saw the huge grin on the Irish boys face whenever Liam turned away.

After the pizza, they decided to watch a movie. Harry barely paid any attention to the Disney movie Liam popped in. One reason was because he’d seen this film hundreds of times before. Another reason was Louis was sitting on the floor, in front of Harry. When Louis would lean back, his shoulder would brush against Harry’s leg. Which meant nothing at all. Of course, Harry felt nothing what so ever.  

Before he knew it, the movie was over and the warmth against his leg was gone. But Louis got up and stretched in front of Harry. Raising his arms above his head, a strip of skin was revealed below his rising shirt. Harry looked away, but only to be stared at by Liam. Liam who had a knowing smirk on his face. Oh, shit.

Niall was asleep on the couch beside Harry, soft snores coming from his open mouth. Harry jostled Niall awake, then stood up himself. “I think I’m going to take Niall here,” Harry gestured with this thumb towards Niall. “and head home. He seems tired and I’ll let him crash at my place.”

“Are you sure? It’s still pretty early. Niall could just crash here for the night.” Liam offered.

“No, it’s fine. I think school tired him out. Besides I’ll hear about it tomorrow if I he knew he missed a chance to sleep with my cat.” Harry said with a smile.

At that, Niall shot right up and looked at Harry. “Yes! Lets go Harry! Your pussy is probably missing me at this very moment.” Niall basically ran to the door. “Besides, I’d rather not stay here and be haunted by Liam’s dead turtles.” Then Niall pranced out the door.

Harry looked towards Liam and smiled. “He’s just kidding.” Harry tried, not wanting to upset Liam again. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Harry said goodbye and gave a nod towards Zayn and Louis, then he was out the door too following a happy Niall.

On the ride back to Harry’s house, Niall was all excited and didn’t seem like he was asleep a few minutes prior. Niall kept talking about all the plans he and Lucy had together. It made Harry think of a sleepover of some sort but with a cat. In a matter of minutes they pulled up in the driveway and Niall was out of the car before Harry had a chance to pull the keys out of the ignition. 

Niall was a weird one, but Harry loved him. He was like a brother Harry never had, as was Liam. He didn’t know what he would do without them. It made him smile just thinking about how lucky he was to have such amazing friends. 

Walking into his house, he saw Niall holding Lucy like a baby, and wiggling his hands for her to play with. Yes, he decided he would get Niall a cat. Harry walked up to Niall and the kitten and gave Lucy a kiss on the head, and then went to go find his mum. 

“Fine, don’t give me a kiss! Be selfish.” Niall smiled. Harry ignored him and walked into the kitchen and found his mum at the table with a cup of tea in her hand.

“Hey baby.” She said as Harry gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey mum.” He sat down next to her for awhile. Thoughts penetrated his head. He was nervous to talk to Liam next. Harry knew Liam would want to talk to him, it was just that look he had in his eyes. Thoughts kept coming and Harry decided to confide in his mum, maybe she’d understand. “Mum?”

“What is it Harry?” She asked putting her cup down, noticing that look on his face.

“What do you do when you feel a certain way about someone, but you don’t actually know the person? I mean you aren’t exactly friends with the person. But someone else thinks they know how you feel, and you don’t even know yourself?”

“Well Harry, maybe you should actually get to know the person. Try to become friends with them and see if the way you feel is the same. Sometimes your friends know you better than yourself, so the person who knows how you feel is probably right,” Anne stated. “Harry, if you ever need to talk I’m here. You have many friends who love you so dear and they will be there for you too. I hope that helps.” 

Harry thought it over. It did help, and it made sense. He nodded and stood up. “Is it okay if Niall sleeps over?” He knew his mum wouldn’t mind, but he would be polite to ask anyways. Once Anne nodded, Harry offered her a smile and left the kitchen.   
He ran into Niall, who had his arms cross and a big grin on his face. 

“Spill,” was all the blonde boy said.

****

After convincing Niall that Harry hadn’t been sure, and it was mostly hypothetical, Niall dropped the subject. Harry really didn’t want to talk to Niall about it. He trusted him with his life, and knew he would keep a secret, but honestly Harry didn’t even know himself what he was feeling or what was going on. He knew he would take his mum’s advice though.

Niall had fell asleep with Lucy in his arms. Harry was jealous that his sleeping partner left him to sleep with someone else. Harry should just go to sleep, but he couldn’t. Thoughts poured into his head, one after another. They wouldn’t go away like he wanted them to. He didn’t want to think about anything, he just wanted to sleep. Finally, sleep came to him.

The rest of the week went by strangely good. Not one day was bad for Harry, which was odd but he wasn’t complaining. Liam was still upset with Niall about the whole covering Zayn’s face with chocolate incident. But as the week grew on, Liam decided to finally forgive Niall. He was only having fun anyways. It’s not like Niall meant to make Liam upset, well you never know with Niall.

Harry made several attempts to be friendly towards Louis. Louis would either flash him a smile, which made Harry want to melt, or he would just brush him off which made Harry want to slap him. He talked to him everyday that week, trying to make an effort. There has been a difference. Louis had casually brought Harry into few conversations he had with some friends. It was a start at least.

Liam hadn’t approached Harry yet. Harry knew it would be coming, sometime soon. He could feel it. Every night when he tired to sleep and close his eyes, he would see Liam’s knowing eyes staring at him. He couldn’t get those eyes out of his head.   
Well, Harry was right, ‘sometime soon’ came faster than he thought.


	3. Chapter Three

The ‘sometime soon’ Harry was worried about happened the following week on a Tuesday. I know that sounds terribly precise, but Harry had been waiting for it. He’d been counting the days, it had been 8 days, and that was a long time for Harry to wait.

Liam had approached Harry during free period. Harry was sitting by himself in the back of the classroom working on his maths homework he was just assigned. Well he wasn’t really working on his maths work, he was pretending to, while he was staring at Louis, who was talking to Zayn about something intently.

Harry thought he was being sneaky, that is until Liam plopped down next to him and told his to stop staring at Louis. Harry whipped his head around so fast to look at Liam,he was surprised he didn’t actually hurt his neck. “Oh don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean Harry. I see the way you look at him.” 

“I figured you knew.” Harry sighed and closed his maths book. He admired Liam’s expression, who had a big smile on his face. “Why are you smiling?”

“Harry, you like him. That much is obvious. But Harry, this is the first time I’ve seen you actually  _interested_  in someone.” Liam said, still smiling.

“Who said I was interested in him? What if I just think he’s fit?” Harry tried. Liam smiled bigger, nope that didn’t work then. 

“You think who’s fit?” A voice came from beside Harry. Harry looked over and saw Louis standing beside him. Louis then sat down the seat on the other side of Harry. They were sat at a round table instead of individual desks, all the free period classrooms were like that – tables instead of desks. 

“Steven.” Harry quickly replied. “He’s this guy I met in America while I was there visiting over the summer.” Louis nodded and seemed to believe it. Harry didn’t dare look at Liam. It’s not like he  _lied._  Steven was fit and Harry has been texting him again. Well technically Steven sent the first text, asking Harry how school was going. It surprised Harry, after one month of communication the American boy finally texts him.

“So, Li-Li. I’ve been thinking of having a party this weekend. My mum and sisters are going away for the weekend and I’ll have the house to myself.” Louis said with a wicked smile on his face.

Louis was known for throwing parties. Usually they were big, and that’s all the anyone would talk about the following days. Of course Liam would always ask Harry to come, Harry would decline and spend the night at home with his mum. 

“Sounds like a plan.” Liam said, Harry still didn’t look at him. Instead he focused on his fingers which were quite long when he really did look at them. “But what about Harry?” 

Now Harry dared to look up at Liam. Then he looked at Louis who was also staring at Liam. “I mean you two are friends now right?” Liam continued. 

“Yeah, sure.” Louis said with a shrug of his shoulder. “That is if he wants to?” Louis now looked at Harry. 

Harry looked at Louis. Damn, those eyes again. Those eyes were haunting Harry’s dreams too. Liam’s eyes are one thing, but don’t even compare to Louis’ eyes. Every time Harry looked into those blue eyes. His eyes weren’t just blue, in the middle they were a dark yellow, and Harry thought they were the most beautiful eyes ever. 

Liam nudged Harry’s arm, and Harry shook his head to get rid of the thoughts, but played it off by shaking his hair and brushing it to the side. Girls (and some guys) seemed to love it when Harry did that, to him he was just fixing his hair, no big deal. Harry returned to look at Louis, just not his eyes, or his mouth. He did that last week, apparently he zoned out for a whole five minutes. Nobody noticed, well besides Liam who shot him another knowing look. 

“Yeah, sure I’ll come. Got nothing better to do.” Harry finally replied.

“Great!” Liam exclaimed, and it got Harry a little suspicious. Louis also looked at Liam confusion written on his face. “I’ve been trying to get Harry to go to one of your parties for ages.” Liam confessed. 

“You’ve never been to one of my parties?” Louis asked Harry. Of course Louis knew Harry had never been to one of his parties. Every party he had, he always searched for that mop of curly brown hair. He never did find him, so Louis would drink and drink and try to forget. I mean, why would Harry have gone to one of his parties in the first place?

“No. I went once, only to pick up Niall, he drunk dialed me telling me to pick him up because he wanted to have ‘sexy time’ with me. Ask him the story sometime.” Harry told him feeling a smile grow on his face. He loved drunk Niall.

The night he picked up Niall, was during on last day of school the previous year. Harry spent most of his night helping his mum plan for Paris. He knew his friends were at Louis’ party, and Harry didn’t feel like going. Half past midnight, Niall had called Harry. First he was just talking non-sense, then he actually told Harry to pick him up from the party. Harry remembered Niall’s exact words ‘ _Harrehh. Come get me we’ll have sexy time. Harrehhh are you theree?_ ”

So Harry went to pick up Niall. He had to go inside to find him, Harry didn’t expect Niall to be on the curb waiting for him like a prostitute. Harry had found Niall on the back deck, his face was really red and he had a drink in his hand. As soon as Niall saw Harry, he flung himself into Harry’s arms and gave him a big kiss right on the mouth. 

Some people around them stopped and stared at the two of them. It was just a kiss, a drunken kiss at that. Niall had hung onto Harry as soon as Harry pulled away from Niall’s mouth. It wasn’t the first time they kissed and Niall was drunk so Harry wasn’t freaked out about it. Then he dragged Niall from the party and pretended like he didn’t hear the cat-calls and wolf-whistles behind him. 

“Oh, I remember that, vaguely.” Louis said, looking away from Harry. He had remembered that indeed. He was inside getting a drink when he saw the mop of curly brown hair pass him. Louis’ face grew wide feeling lucky that Harry finally came to one of his parties. When he had followed Harry outside, he saw Niall and Harry in a lip lock. Then Harry followed that up by dragging Niall from the back deck , taking him back to his house no doubt. Louis felt sick after seeing that but the only thing he did was continue to drink. 

“I’ll talk to you two later.” Louis said getting up from the table and walked over to where his work was. He told himself that it was rude of him to have left Zayn alone at the table they were sharing besides, the class was almost over.

Harry watched Louis walk away. What just happened? Did he say something to piss the older boy off? He looked towards Liam, who was only staring at him shaking his head disapprovingly. So he had done something wrong. But what was it?

Harry really didn’t have time to think much about what just happened because the bell rang. Liam waited for Harry and then walked to chemistry together. Harry didn’t pay attention to Louis who was walking in front of them. He didn’t watch Louis’ bum as he walked. Or the way he seemed to walk so perfectly. No, he sure didn’t. In fact, he was paying attention to a noisy Niall who just approached Harry and Liam and started telling them a story about his last class. Yes, that’s exactly what Harry was doing.

The boys entered the class room and sat at a lab table with Louis. The four usually sat together since the tables were only meant for four people. He was fine with the arrangement, got him away from Abby most of the class. Besides the end, where she would always sneak up on him and sit on the lab table in front of him, trying to be cheeky. It never worked. 

Niall started joking around with Louis, and Harry watched them with a smile on his face. They both were dorks. He felt a hot breath on his neck, then a familiar voice in his ear. “Hey Harry, funny what Niall and Sean get up to when we’re not around. But you wouldn’t know would you?”

Harry turned to glare at Liam. Why couldn’t he just leave Harry alone in his happy little world? But that’s just how Liam was, Harry was just glad Liam had decide to speak to Harry privately. He would have killed Liam if he said that out loud. Harry glanced over at Louis and Niall then looked at Liam.

“Okay Liam, what do you want? We both know what you are doing, but why are you doing it? Can’t you just leave it alone?” Harry pleaded with Liam. After all, Liam was suppose to be helping Harry out here, not make things worse on him.

“I’m just messing around Hazza.” Liam said and Harry just gave him a disbelieving look. “What so everyone else can have a laugh, but I can’t?” 

“You can, but that’s not funny Liam.” Harry said. He was started when Niall and Louis sat down at the table.

“Whats not funny?” Niall asked.

Harry had to think of something quick, “Liam told me that the ghosts of his dead turtles plan to haunt Lucy.” That sounded really lame, but Louis started cracking up.

“Liam! How could you?” Niall said shocked.

“I..I didn’t-” Liam began, but Harry spoke up not wanting Liam to deny what he had said.

“Liam is just a little evil bugger deep inside.” Harry said, shaking his head like he was ashamed of Liam.  _Hah, this is what you get Liam. Mess with me and I’ll mess with you._ Harry thought to himself.

“Oh, I believe that.” Louis said with a grin on his face. Liam didn’t find any of this funny, he glared at Louis then Niall and finally Harry. Harry caught his eye, and sent him a pleading look not to do anything. 

The teacher decided to start class at that moment, making Harry’s attention focus else where. Mrs. Hill had been planning a lab for today, they were going to learn how to change the color of fire. From what Harry understood, they were to put different chemicals into the fire, and the flame would change color.

Mrs. Hill told the class to get to work. She would be coming around to each group to check on what they were doing. Liam decided he would get what they needed for the lab. Niall insisted he should help Liam, after all Liam needed a someone ‘strong and manly’ to help him get the stuff. 

“If I needed someone strong and manly, I would have Harry help me, you’re just a tiny guy, Niall.” Liam tried to joke, instead Niall frowned and crossed his arms. 

“Aw, Liam. Why didn’t you tell me you felt that way about me?” Harry beamed. 

“You are already cocky enough. I was just trying to make a point.” Liam said. “Come on Niall, if you really want to help then help. We’re wasting time. Harry, while we get the chemicals, you and Lou set up the bunsen burner.” And with that Liam went up to the front counter with a happy Niall following after him.

“Liam is playing hard to get. Cheeky.” Harry said with a smirk. It was then he realized what Liam had done. He purposely left Harry alone with Louis. It was only for a minute or so, but Liam knew what he was doing. Sneaky bastard. 

“Li-Li is always playing hard to get. I guess that’s better than him whoring himself around.” Louis said with a shrug of his shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess.” Harry turned to Louis and sighed. “So do you have any idea on how to set this up?” Harry asked pulling the bunsen burner out from a draw in the table.

“I usually let Liam do that.” Louis said looking at Harry. “But here, I’ll do it.” Harry pushed the bunsen burner towards Louis. He hooked the cord into the gas nozzle, then turned the gas on. “We just need someone to light it, Liam will probably bring back matches.” 

“I was never good in science.” Harry admitted.

“Me either.” Louis sent a smile towards Harry as he messed around with the nobs on the table. “I’m more of an English person.”

“So am I.” Harry confided. He and Louis had a lot in common, more than he realized. He sent Louis a shy smile, as Niall and Liam returned.

Liam lit the bunsen burner and tried to make room for the experiment. He and Niall both set out different types of chemicals including potassium chloride, copper chloride, sodium chloride, borax, and a bunch of other chlorides. They were in brown bottles. Harry watched as Liam set up the experiment. Harry really didn’t know what to do, so he sat back and watched. 

“Harry I dare you to eat this.” Niall said, pushing a brown bottled chemical towards him. 

Harry raised an eyebrow at Niall then looked at the bottle. It read ‘calcium chloride’.

“Are you trying to kill me?” He asked.

“It won’t kill you.” Liam muttered under his breath.

“I just think you need more calcium.” Niall told Harry. 

Harry looked through the bottles and pushed the potassium chloride towards Niall.  “I dare you to eat that. I think you need more potassium.” 

Niall just looked at Harry and put a hand on his hip, “Are you trying to tell me I have low blood levels?” Louis and Liam both laughed at Niall, while Harry only smiled and shook his head. He forgot Niall liked the subject of science.

“I wouldn’t know, I’m not a doctor.” Harry told Niall.

“Hm, you should be.” Niall put the chemical down. And then looked back up at Harry. “Maybe sometime we should play doctor, Haz.” he said with a wicked grin.  
Harry laughed at his friend. “Perhaps we should.” 

Louis smiled weakly. He liked Niall, he was a good friend and always made him laugh. But at this moment all me wanted to do was hit his blonde friend. Did Harry and Niall have a thing? Or was it just playful banter? A little too playful if you asked him. He tried to calm himself down, so he helped out Liam with the experiment of the colored flames.

****

The boys figured out that potassium chloride turned the turned the flame purple. The calcium chloride Niall wanted Harry to ingest turned the flame orange, which wasn’t much of a difference. Harry’s favorite was the copper chloride, which turned the flame blue which happened to be his new favorite color. Blue was the color of beautiful things, the sky, the ocean, Louis’ eyes, and his favorite blazer.

Harry was tired by the time school was finished. His classes went by relatively fast after chemistry. Liam had asked Harry in psychology, if they wanted to hang out at Harry’s place after school. Harry didn’t mind. The boys -all five of them- seemed to always hanging out together after school now days. They’ve either went over to Liam’s, or Niall’s once or twice.

So, when the final bell rang, Harry had found Niall and they drove over to his place. Niall had confirmed they all would be there, he apparently had been texting Zayn and Louis. It was fine with Harry. He was nervous, not because of Louis coming over, he was nervous because uh.. how Lucy would react to all the boys there.

As soon as they reached Harry’s house, they both went inside and Niall went straight towards Lucy, who was curled up in a ball on the love seat Harry always sat in. Harry told Niall if any of the boys arrived while he was in the shower to let them in. He warned Niall not to go in the kitchen alone, or make any messes.

“Oh my god, Harry. Just go take a bloody shower. I won’t burn your house down.” Niall told him. Harry was still antsy, his mum was out, visiting his sister Gemma.

Harry nodded and just accepted that Niall would be okay, besides he was just up stairs if Niall needed him. Harry finally went up stairs and stripped off his jeans first, followed by his blazer then he just started taking off the rest of his clothes until he was only in his underwear. He walked into his bathroom, and turned the shower on. He then stripped off the last of his clothing and got into the shower.

Harry loved his showers, they were the place he did most of his thinking. Random thoughts would pop into his head, like when was his history project due? Or had his mum arrived at Gemma’s yet? He tried to sway away from thoughts of Louis. It was hard to keep his mind off of him. The were friends now, and spent more time together, which meant more to think about. Harry sighed as he finished rinsing the bubbles from his hair, which of course now smelled like strawberries.

He turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around his waist. Usually he wouldn’t have a towel but he left his window open, which cause it to be colder in his room. As he started walking towards the door, he heard a noise then he stopped.  _It was probably just Niall looking for a toy for Lucy or something_ , he thought to himself.

But when he opened the door, instead of Niall, he found Louis in his room, shirtless.  
Why was his shirtless? Why didn’t Harry look away? He must have made a noise because Louis turned around, a blush crept onto his face. They both just stood there looking at each other. Harry probably should have made a move to put some clothes on but he didn’t. Louis was the first one to finally speak.

“Sorry. Niall was trying to give your cat milk, and he split it on me.” Louis explained.  “Liam told me you had a shirt I could borrow, he said you wouldn’t mind.” Louis blushed even more, trying not to look Harry in the eyes.

Liam told him that? Damn Liam, why was he being so evil towards Harry today? Well, evil for Liam anyways. Harry would never admit it, but he secretly thanked Liam. Helping him out, in a way and also trying to kill him. Kill him with kindness, that’s what he is doing.

Harry nodded at Louis. “Uh yeah, just take any.” Harry tried for casual as he finally moved towards his dresser for a pair of boxers. “Just a warning, it might be big on you.” He pulled on his boxers from underneath the towel. Then he turned around to face Louis who pulled on just a plain gray t-shirt.

“Thanks.” Louis smiled and left Harry to finish dressing.

Harry let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He tossed his towel on the floor then fixed his boxers, which were put on wrong because it was underneath the towel. He found a pair of his gray sweats, and a white t-shirt and threw those on. He still couldn’t believe what just happened. To Louis it was probably nothing, but to Harry it was the best 2 minutes of his life.

After Harry finished dressing he went downstairs and found all five guys in the living room. The tv was on and the show Friends was on. Liam and Zayn were on the couch they each had a can of soda. Niall was on the floor, playing with Lucy while trying to watch the show. Louis was in Harry’s love seat, wait what? Harry looked at Liam, who had a smirk on his face but his eyes were on the show. That bastard.

Harry wanted to just run up and jump on Liam. But he had a soda in his hand, and Anne would kill Harry if he split anything on her couch. He looked at Louis who was looking at him. Louis scooted over and patted the spot next to him for Harry to sit. As if his legs had a mind of their own, he walked over and sat down next to Louis who casually draped an arm around Harry’s shoulder as he sat down.

Harry felt warm, not like having a blanket over you warm. Like warm that fills your insides and if just makes you all giddy happy. He loved this feeling, he never wanted it to end. But all good things must come to an end. As soon as the show was over, Louis stood up saying he was hungry, which Niall agreed.

So the boys went into the kitchen and sat at the table as Harry made some sandwiches for them. Liam had told Louis they had to talk about his party. Louis had said there didn’t need to be any discussions, he was just doing what he normally did. Hire some music, buy some food, and some drinks. He expected a lot of people to bring other food and drinks like always. But Liam had asked him what if nobody showed up with anything, and they didn’t have enough of food and/or drinks.

“Then it’ll be a crap party, Li” Louis has said with a shrug of his shoulder. “It will be fine, what are you worrying about?”

“What abut the mess afterward?” Liam ignored Louis’ question and asked one of his own.

“I usually just hire cleaning services.” Louis waved off with his hand.

“Liam it will be a fun party. Leave Loueh alone.” Zayn said. Zayn would always speak with different voices, and they always made Harry laugh.

Harry set down chicken sandwiches for each of the boys. Then he sat down at the table between Niall and Zayn, joining the conversation. Harry stared at Niall, he had Lucy on his lap secretly giving her pieces of his sandwich. Harry took Lucy away from Niall, and held her on his lap, she didn’t seem to mind at all. Harry scratched behind her ears receiving a purr.

They all decided to play a board game afterward. Liam and Niall wanted to lay monopoly so that’s what they decided to play. Zayn was the dog, Liam was the horse, Louis was the hat, Niall was the boat, and Harry was the bag of money. The game turned out the be entertaining. Well everything was entertaining to Harry when he hung around these four boys.

Harry had the most money out of all of them. Liam had the most own properties. Niall had all the train tracks, saying he now needed to be a train instead of a boat. Louis would always end up in jail, and cursing at his hat. Zayn kept accusing Harry of cheating.

“I don’t cheat! Liam would know. He watches me like a hawk.” Harry explained. “I swear its the bag of money. Every time I play this game whoever has the bag of money always ends up with the most money.”

Louis tried to grab Harry’s money bag. “Give it here curly!” Louis urged. “I need to pay for bail! I’ll never get out at this rate.” Harry felt sorry for him, but held onto his bag of money.

Harry didn’t even realized it had gone dark. The sun probably set awhile ago, but he was too caught up in the game. After one more round Zayn had told them he had to go home, it was a school night and his mum wouldn’t be happier if he stayed out any later. After he left the other four boys decided to watch a movie.

Niall picked out the movie, knowing Niall it would either be a comedy or a horror movie. Harry sat down on the love seat next to Louis as the opening credits. He was wrong, Niall had picked the 6th Harry Potter Movie : Half Blood Prince. He should have guessed.

Throughout the entire movie, Louis would mutter which scene he loved, hated, thought was pointless, cheesy, and cute. That would have annoyed Harry if he didn’t find it so cute. He had felt Liam’s eyes on him multiple times throughout the night but he didn’t dare turn to look at him.

When the movie ended, Liam offered to drive Niall home. Harry and Louis went to walk them out. Louis walked with Niall out to Liam’s car while Liam stood on the porch with Harry. “Don’t stay up too late Hazza-Head.” Liam smirked and giving Harry a wink.

“I should be saying the same to you Liam.” Harry told Liam, who gave him a confused look. “I know how much you like to party with your dead turtles on school nights.”

“Oh, ha ha. Very funny.” Liam said walking to his car.

“I mean it Liam! Just say no. Don’t give into peer pressure!” Harry shouted out at Liam, who waved him off.

As Liam drove away with Niall, Louis walked up the the porch where Harry was at. Harry smiled at Louis and Louis offered him a smile back. “I should probably head home too.” Louis told Harry.

“Yeah, I think my mum will be home soon.” Harry said.

Louis nodded and started walking towards his car. “Oh did you want your shirt back?” Louis turned around to ask, pulling at the shirt for emphasis.

“It’s fine, you wear it home. You can give it back to me whenever.” Harry said with a smile.

Louis nodded again, “Bye Harry.” He said before turning around and walking towards his car.

“Bye Louis.” Harry murmured, pretty sure Louis wouldn’t hear it. He watched as Louis got into his car and drove way. As Harry went back inside he couldn’t help but feel like when Louis left, something else of his left too, just not his shirt.


	4. Chapter Four

The rest of the week had gone by fast for Louis. It was already Friday and he was in his last class, psychology. Ms. Gibson had the class keep ‘dream journals’ where you write what you remember from your dreams the previous night. Louis didn’t think his dreams were all that school appropriate, he was a teenage boy after all. So instead he would make up a dream or write down the excuse that he couldn’t remember the dream.

After writing down false information in the dream journal, Louis sighed and put his head down. This past week had been really good. He felt like he and Harry had been friends forever, instead of a few days. It was hard though, being around the younger boy. Harry was just so different from anyone he knew, it was hard to explain what exactly about Harry that made him like him so much. He guessed it was everything from the way he talked to his curly hair.

Louis knew why he and Harry didn’t get along at first, well for him anyways. Harry was nice to him when Liam introduced them to one another. Harry had smiled at him and it gave Louis this weird feeling in his stomach. It scared him. He tried to be civil towards Harry, he really did but he was scared. He was scared of what those feeling he had were, he was scared what might become of them. So Louis did what he always did when he was scared, he hid and pushed Harry away. He didn’t even give Harry a chance. He knew the whole thing was his fault, maybe one day he would explain that to Harry. But this new friendship with Harry was like a second chance, and he was so grateful for it.

There was ten minutes left of class, and Ms. Gibson let her students do whatever for the rest of the class. Louis was debating on whether to try to sneak out of class early, he’s done it before and he’s sure the teacher wouldn’t notice. But instead, he just sat there silently tapping his fingers on top of his desk.

“Are you bored?” Harry asked, walking up to his desk. Louis smiled at his new friend and nodded. Harry decided to sit sideways on Louis’ desk, his legs hanging off the left side. Since Harry decided to sit on his desk, Louis started tapping his fingers on Harry’s thighs.

“Louis, keep your hands still.” Harry said, placing his hands on top of Louis’. Louis ignored that feeling in his stomach. If he didn’t he would get scared and try to hide again, and the last thing he wanted to do was push Harry away – again.

“I’m sorry Curly, I’m just so bored.” Louis groaned, leaning forward so he rest his head on Harry’s arm.

“I could see that. It was the reason why I came over here, obviously.” Harry explained.

“And here I was thinking you came here just because you enjoyed my company.” Louis shook his head like he was ashamed. 

“Oh, that too.” Harry laughed, causing Louis to laugh. “Hey, this may be a weird time to bring it up, but I was curious. You know how I wanted to talk to you on the first day of school? At Liam’s?”

Louis thought back, yeah he remembered that. Harry was acting friendly towards him again. It scared him he was afraid of what the younger lad was going to say, so he tried to push him away a bit. It wasn’t until Liam came to him and talked to him, that he decided he needed to stop pushing Harry away. He needed to start pulling him closer.

Louis nodded signaling Harry to continue. “I was just wondering why we were never friends? I mean Liam tried to get us to be nice towards each other but we never really became  _friends_  up until the past week.” Harry turned his head to look down at Louis, into his blue eyes. They gave him the confidence to keep going. “I don’t think I ever had a problem with you. Did you have a problem with me?” 

Louis bit the inside of his lip. He didn’t want to lie to Harry, but he didn’t want to tell him the whole truth. “No. I don’t think I ever had a problem with you personally. I mean we didn’t even know each other and I’m usually not one to judge. But the thing is, Liam and a few other people tried to push us to become friends. I like to make friends on my own, so I guess I go defensive and took it out on you. I should apologize for that.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Liam can be a bit pushy. You don’t have to apologize, it’s who you are. Don’t be sorry for being yourself.” Harry smiled, he was glad he finally understood what happened now, or somewhat of it. It was stupid really, but he can’t change the past. 

Louis stood up from his desk and yawned. “Man I’m knackered. School really tires you out, don’t it?” 

Harry smiled at Louis and hopped off the desk he was sitting on. He walked back over to his desk to grab his books he’d left over there. When he turned around to walk back over to Louis, he was talking to Eleanor. Harry sighed, and decided to leave them alone to talk for awhile. The rumors were saying Louis and Eleanor were dating. This past week Louis never mentioned her, nor did he seem to hang out with her after school which is what you should do when you’re seeing someone, right? Harry had nothing against Eleanor, she was the quiet type but she was fit and people said she was nice.

Harry told himself it didn’t matter if Louis and Eleanor were dating. That didn’t concern Harry, not one bit. When the final bell rang, Harry rushed out of the door. He wanted to get home, it was Friday and he didn’t want to spend another minute in this school.

When the bell rang Louis said bye to Eleanor before looking around. He wondered where Harry disappeared to, had he already left? Well Louis would see him tomorrow at his party, or so he hoped. Harry had said he was coming right? Of course he would be, he said so himself, he said he had nothing better to do. Unless he made plans? No, he wouldn’t do that would he? It’s not like he had to go to the party, but Louis wanted him to go. He really wanted him to go.

Louis left the classroom and headed home. His mum and sisters were leaving tonight, so he should probably go say goodbye to them. Jay doesn’t really mind Louis having parties when she’s not around. As long as he’s responsible, and cleans up the messes afterward, then she has no problem. Louis made sure of that after his first party. He felt guilty afterward when he went behind his mum’s back. But Louis talked to her about it, and they settled down on an agreement, a compromise if you will.

So Louis headed home, he had homework he wanted to get done and a house to clean up after his family left. He also needed to distract himself, when he was distracted he didn’t think of Harry. The boy with the amazing green eyes, the curls you wanted to run your hands through, the muscular body, the guy who smiled and made Louis’ heart skip a beat. Yes, that Harry. Louis couldn’t think about him when he had a party to get ready for.

****

Louis was nervous, that much was obvious. He didn’t keep busy enough and he couldn’t help think of the curly haired boy. Louis hadn’t heard from him since yesterday at school. He even asked the other lads and they said they haven’t heard anything from him either. Weird, not even Niall had heard from him and those two were always together. It’s only been a day, Louis needed to calm down. He should be focused on other things right now, like making sure everything was set up.

Liam, Zayn, and Stan had came over earlier that morning to help Louis set up and get his house ‘party proofed’. Having a four younger sisters who had toys laying around could cause a problem. Liam had taken the toys and put them away neatly somewhere else in the house. Louis and Stan had made the inside and outside to look decent. Zayn was setting up the music, he offered to DJ for the night, ‘DJ Malik’ he told people to call him.

After Louis had everything ready (which had even been double checked by Liam), he went upstairs to go have a shower and change his clothes. Talk about getting ready at the last minute, he only had a little over an hour until people started to show up. When Louis got to his room, he laid out a pair of red trousers, a smart shirt, suspenders and a pair of TOMS. He decided to change shirts since it was a party, he usually wore stripes; they were his thing.

As Louis made his way into the shower, he faintly heard the sound of Niall’s loud, boisterous voice. Liam was probably having the time of his life right now, making sure Niall didn’t get into anything yet. He was like a kid, but Louis loved that about him. The more he thought about Niall the more his thoughts began to wonder. Was Harry here? He drives Niall almost everywhere and Niall can’t drive. Did somebody drop him off here? Or was there another person in his house? Louis began to get curious so he finished up his shower quickly, well quickly for him anyway, then he went back to his room.

When he was sure he was dry, he put on the set of clothes he laid out. Then he headed back to his bathroom to fix his hair. That was one thing with Louis, his hair always had to look a certain way but it always had to look good. First he started off by taking a hairdryer to it then he brushed it out and added some hair wax to make it stay. It was still soft, and it was easy to move if he wanted it to. He gave himself one last look before heading downstairs.

Louis walked down to find Liam and Zayn over by the music booth. They were looking a little too close if you asked Louis. Stan and Niall were sitting on the floor in the middle of the kitchen eating a bag of chips. He searched the rest of the downstairs, pretending to just checking out the completed work. In reality he was searching for a boy with curly hair. Sadly he had no luck.

So instead of wondering around the house, Louis went back into the kitchen and sat on the floor with Niall and Stan.

“Lou-Lou!” Niall beamed. “Why do you take such long showers?” Niall looked at him and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t you like you know.” Louis replied back shooting Niall a wink. Louis then proceeded to steal a chip from the bag. Niall apparently owned the chips because he yelled at Louis for stealing one. Or maybe it was because Niall didn’t let people steal his food. “Why is he allowed some?” Louis gestured towards Stan who just shoved three in his mouth.

“Because he asked and I told him I’d share.” Niall said before picking up a chip and throwing it at Louis who smacked it away.

“No throwing food Niall!” Louis teased.

“I’ll do whatever I please.” Niall responded, throwing another chip at Louis, this time the it had hit him in the face.

“Its on.” Louis smirked picking up a chip and chucking it at Niall, who saw it coming and dodged it. Niall threw two more at Louis, and Louis threw some back at him at the same time. Chips were flying across the kitchen, and Stan ran out of the room to get away from the vengeful boys.

Niall decided to tackle Louis to the ground, and crunch the chips over top of Louis, sending crumbs all over Louis and the floor.

“Liam!” Louis yelled, trying to push the Irish boy off of him. Niall sat on top of Louis, pinning him down so he couldn’t move.

“You are making me waste good food.” Niall complained as he put a chip in his mouth before crunching more up over Louis.

“Liam!” Louis yelled again, still trying to wriggle out from underneath Niall. His clothes were getting crumby. “Liam!! Niall is messing up the kitchen and getting food all over me!”

Footsteps could be heard running into the kitchen. Louis watched as Niall got off of Louis and ran for his life. Not five seconds later, Niall ran back into the kitchen to grab the bag of chips before running out again. Louis busted out laughing as Liam took off after Niall.

Zayn appeared with a sweeper and started cleaning up the chips from the floor. “You know, when Liam gets a hold of him, Niall is a dead man.”

Louis got to his feet and swept off the crumbs from his clothes, making them fall to the floor and earning a glare from Zayn. “Well he should, look what he did to me!” Louis exclaimed, gesturing towards his outfit.

“Then either clean it up or go change. Just stop complaining Loueh.” Zayn said as he cleaned up the crumbs Louis pushed onto the floor.

“Sorry Mr. Grouch.” Louis said, holding up his hands in surrender. Just then Niall ran right between them with Liam hot on his heels. Louis watched as Zayn put his foot out, and Niall tripped over it and flew face first into the floor. Louis doubled over laughing while Niall glared at Zayn. That glare then vanished as he saw Liam, and he tried to crawl away.

Louis watched as Liam dragged Niall out of the kitchen and outside onto the back deck. Louis couldn’t hear exactly what was being said, but he watched Liam point at Niall repeatedly. Louis looked back at Zayn who sighed and rolled his eyes at the two boys outside. “Great now Niall and Liam will both be in a grumpy mood.” Zayn grumbled putting the sweeper away.

“Zany, stop being so grumpy.” Louis said, fixing his hair now. “Now, go tell them to hurry up. People are coming soon and we don’t need them bickering.” Zayn rolled his eyes at Louis then walked towards the door.

****

Louis honestly had no idea when people started to arrive. He was lost in thought for a good few minutes – and those thoughts did not consist of Harry, at all. He would walk around his house deep in thought, to others he probably looked like he was busy doing something but in reality he had no clue what he was doing.

Zayn’s voice boomed from the speakers, which brought Louis back to planet earth. “Hello every body!” Zayn called out and many people cheered. How long was Louis not paying attention? It felt like he fell asleep or skipped out a moment of his life. The sun had gone down and many people were at his house, and Louis didn’t recognize many faces. Sure some faces he’d seen in a class or two but he wouldn’t be able to tell you their names. “I’m DJ Malik, and I will be in charge of music tonight!”

Louis listened to Zayn’s voice as he walked around the house. He wondered where his friends were, or anybody he knew really. Well at least he knew where Zayn was, and he figured Niall would either be by the food or drinks. Liam is probably – well actually, Louis didn’t really know where Liam was. He was always off doing different things. He may not seem like it, but Liam loves to party. One minute he’s dancing the other he’s playing a drinking game. Louis was shocked the first time he ever went out to a party with Liam, his friend had let loose and Louis couldn’t do anything but join him.

“Louis!” a voice sang in his ear. He turned around to see Eleanor smiling at him. Louis returned her smile.

“Hey! You made it.” he said giving her a one armed hug. Louis had known Eleanor for awhile now. At first she was just a quiet girl that had been in his classes. Until he got partnered with her on a history project about a year ago and really got to know her. She was the sweetest girl he had ever met and they became really good friends. He felt protective over her when they started bonding, like one of his younger sisters. In fact, she was one of the only people Louis felt like he could trust. Of course he trusted all his friends, but not every everything he had going on.

Whenever Louis had a problem, Eleanor would be there for him, almost like a girl version of Liam. In fact Eleanor knew basically everything about Louis, even the thoughts he had. He had told her how he felt about Harry and why he pushed him away. Eleanor seemed to understand even though she hadn’t been put in his situation before. Without her Louis would be a mess right now.

“Of course, silly.” Eleanor laughed. “I come to all of your parties don’t I?”

“Well, there was that one time if I remember correctly…” he smirked.

“Louis, that was one time. And not my fault if I may add.” she informed him as she hit him lightly on the shoulder.

“Who’s fault was it then?”

“Don’t play dumb with me Louis Tomlinson.” Eleanor warned but she was still smiling.

“Okay okay fine. How about we dance?” Louis suggested dragging her towards the crowd of people dancing. Eleanor simply nodded letting him drag her. They started dancing to the song that was playing. Louis had to put in his signature dance move, pat the dog and screw the light bulb; and he didn’t forget to go crazy.

After awhile of dancing, Louis excused himself to get a drink. It was complicated trying to get around the people who were dancing. Luckily Louis made it through alive and he headed towards the kitchen where he suspected the drinks to be.

Niall’s laugh was heard before Louis actually spotted him. He was leaning against a wall talking to a short brunette girl. Louis knew the girl, she was one of Eleanor’s close friends and her name was Destiny or Desiree or something. He debated on whether or not he should go up to Niall, but he decided to leave him alone, who knows maybe he’ll even get lucky. Louis wished he could say the same for himself but the only person he was slightly interested in wouldn’t even give him a chance.

So instead Louis grabbed a beer and went outside where he saw Stan. He went outside and talked to his friend for a little while. Louis noted that Stan was already drunk, or close to it. His cheeks were flushed and he was slurring his words. Not many people were outside, it was a bit cold and it seemed to be getting even colder. As much as he wanted to stay outside, Louis went back inside it was getting too cold for him.

As soon as Louis went back inside he saw Harry. Harry had came to his party. Louis couldn’t help but feel so happy right then. Next he noticed that Harry was talking to Liam, who looked towards Louis noticing him. Harry looked over towards Louis as well and Louis gave him a small smile and started heading towards them when two things happened.

First a short blonde girl went up to Harry and started hanging all over him. Louis recognized her from English, Abby or something. Louis didn’t like her, she was too clingy and her voice made Louis wish he was deaf. The second thing that happened was someone tugging on his arm and pulling him away. It was Eleanor and she looked like she was on a mission, oh no.

Louis just let himself get pulled away. Eleanor released him and Louis noted that he was back outside again. He turned towards Eleanor to ask what her problem was, but she looked angry and he did not want to upset her more.

“Lou, what are you doing?” Eleanor asked him bluntly.

“I  _was_  about to go talk to Liam and Harry before you dragged me away.” Louis stated as if it were obvious.

“No, I mean what are you doing to yourself. I know you’ve known Harry longer than me. But you don’t actually  _know_  him, Lou.” Eleanor said, she didn’t look upset anymore, Louis couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing. “It’s great that you are becoming friends, but shouldn’t you try to control your feelings? I just don’t understand how can you have such strong feelings for Harry when you have barely known him for more than a couple weeks.”

Louis looked at Eleanor. Was she serious? She wanted to talk about this now? Why couldn’t they talk about this some other time when there wasn’t a party going on. Sometimes Eleanor had the worst timing.

“Do you have to talk about this right now?” Louis asked. She only narrowed her eye at him and he took that as a yes. “I don’t know El. I really don’t. I mean ever since Liam introduced us there’s just been this passion I had for him.”

“Passion?” she questioned.

“Yes, I felt something. It scared me and you know how I am when I’m scared. But every time I see him or I’m with him, I just feel this feeling- this passion towards him. It scares me but I don’t know what to do.”

Eleanor looked at him with a sad smile. “I don’t know how that feels, but I’m pretty sure he likes you too. Or he feels somewhat the same way.”

Louis raised another questioning eyebrow at her. “How do you know?” Louis was thinking that Eleanor had over heard a conversation he had. She would tell him what she knew. But instead she kissed him. He even felt her hands go up to cup his jawline. It felt weird, wrong even. Louis grabbed her hands and gently pushed her away. He was still shocked at what just happened.

“Eleanor wh-” Louis began before Eleanor cut him off.

“If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have reacted like that.” She said nodding her head at something behind Louis. He quickly turned around and saw a mop of curly hair retreating back inside the house. Well shit.


	5. Chapter Five

“If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have reacted like that.” She said nodding her head at something behind Louis. He quickly turned around and saw a mop of curly hair retreating back inside the house. Well shit.

Louis looked back at Eleanor.  _What just happened? Had Harry saw Eleanor kiss me and got mad? That didn’t make any sense. Unless Harry liked me? Which also didn’t make sense._  Louis head was filled with question after question. What made it more confusing for Louis was that Eleanor was just standing there staring at him like he should do something. 

“Oh for fucks sake!” Eleanor sighed. “Louis go after him.” She even gave Louis a push as if to make her point clear. Louis stumbled for a second, then his legs seem to have moved on their own. Louis was pushing past people, ignoring calls of his name as he passed by, he only had one thing in mind - and that was Harry.

Louis had a weird feeling in his stomach as he followed the head of curls. He really couldn’t describe what it was, but at this moment he really didn’t care. He needed to find Harry and he really didn’t understand why. Maybe it was because he felt something for the younger boy or maybe it was Harry’ reaction to the kiss that made Louis chase after him. To Louis, it really didn’t matter what it was he just wanted to catch Harry.

And he did.

Louis thought he lost sight of Harry, until he found him gain getting a drink. He took a deep breath then walked towards Harry. Instead of just going to Harry and forcing the topic on him, he tried to play it casual. So he walked up next to Harry and grabbed another drink. Harry’s face was blank and that made Louis even more nervous.

“Harry?” Louis said hesitantly.

Harry turned towards Louis and put on a forced smile. He wouldn’t show any emotion, he couldn’t or else Louis would know. “Hey Louis.”

“Why’d you run away?” Louis asked.

The younger bit his lip thinking about what to say before he actually spoke. “I saw you headed over towards me and Liam inside, so I figured you might wanted to talk.”

“And you saw El kiss me so you ran away?” he guessed.

“Well I saw you two kissing- or you seemed busy, so I decided to leave you alone.” Harry said giving a chuckle that even sounded fake to his own ears.

“Yeah well  _she_ kissed  _me_ ,” Louis said as if that were important. “then she said she saw you.”

“So you followed me instead of staying with your girlfriend?” 

“My what? Eleanor and me?” Louis sputtered, then he laughed to himself. Why did people always think that? Wasn’t it obvious that they were  _just friends?_  “El isn’t my girlfriend.”

Harry didn’t show it, but he was so relieved to hear that. “Oh.” Harry said simply. He didn’t really know what to say to Louis. ‘I’m so glad to hear that. I want you for myself.’ No, Harry couldn’t say that to Louis. Harry wasn’t good with showing his feelings and opening up to people. 

“Eleanor did say something and it made me wonder.” Louis told Harry casually.

“And what might that be?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

“She said -” 

“Louuehhhh.” Zayn’s voice called out into the speakers, interrupting the music that was playing. Louis rolled his eyes then gave Harry an apologetic look.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t leave.” He said and relentlessly walked away from him. He made his way through the crowded house and found Zayn at the music booth. Zayn started to play music again by the time Louis got there, so everyone went back to what they were doing. Louis climbed onto the music booth to get to Zayn, who gave him a big grin.

Louis shrugged as if to ask Zayn why he called him. Zayn pointed to Liam, who was dancing with a girl named Danielle. Louis understood and nodded as he climbed off of the music booth and off into the crowd to find Liam. 

Zayn had a crush on Liam and vice versa. But each of them didn’t know how the other one felt, Louis honestly thought they were both stupid not to see how they both look at each other. Louis has been trying to help them out, but he thinks they should work it out themselves. But Louis would never tell them to help themselves, he would always help them out. He would do anything for his best mates, this is nothing compared to other things.

Louis walked straight up to Liam and dragged him away from Danielle. She protested at first, then moved on to find someone else to dance with. Liam on the other hand didn’t like the fact that he was being taken away from his dance partner. 

“Louis! What the hell?” Liam snapped.

“It’s for your own good Li-Li.” Louis told him.

“Oh, and you know whats good for me? Mr. I don’t see whats in front of my face.”

“Liam, that makes no sense. Plus I should be saying that to you.”

Liam stopped and looked at Louis. Louis turned around and looked at Liam. “The only thing you should be saying is sorry. And you owe me a dance partner.” Liam crossed his arms and looked at Louis, then a smirk appeared on his face. “How about I just go steal the person you want?” Liam said walking towards Harry.

“Liam, bad idea. You two are best mates. And I didn’t steal Zayn away from you. He wasn’t even yours to begin with.” Louis said chasing after Liam.

“Who said anything about Zayn?” Liam asked casually, trying to not to give anything away.

“You did, you don’t hide your emotions well, Li.”

“Neither do you.” Liam sighed and turned around towards Louis. “I guess we’re in the same position here.” Louis could only nod in return. Zayn nor Harry were good at showing their feelings and emotions. But at least Liam had a chance, Louis only suspected that Harry liked him, well according to Liam and El. 

“Well, you actually know you like Zayn. I just feel like I have a connection with Harry, like I want to be with him, you know?” Louis sighed, and lent against the nearest wall. Liam came up beside him and gave him a small smiled.

“That’s how I feel with Zayn. I just didn’t feel anything towards him until I started thinking of him in a different way.” Liam pointed out. “But, I think..I think I might be in love with him, Lou.”

Louis looked at Liam. “Are you suggesting that I might be in love with Harry? Because I’m not. We’ve barely been friends, yet it seems like we’ve been friends all our lives.” Louis murmured, more to himself than anything. “Love is a powerful word Liam, are you sure you are in love with Zayn?”

Liam only shrugged. “I can’t be sure of anything.”

“So dramatic” Louis scoffed. He pushed himself from the wall and started walking away from Liam.

“Where are you going?” Liam shouted from behind Louis, causing people to turn in their direction.

“I’m going to talk to a certain someone, as should you.” Louis said without turning around.

****

Louis had a hard time finding Harry. His first assumption was that he had left, but then Louis remembered that he told Harry not to go anywhere, and something told him that Harry was still at the party. The only question was where was he at? Louis needed to think like Harry, he found that rather simple actually. But all the places he looked, Harry wasn’t there.

The maximum amount of people that the party was probably around eighty. Louis had literally searched every room, and he was beginning to think Harry had in fact left. Then it hit him, why didn’t he check there first? He suspected Harry could have gone upstairs, it was quiet up there after all and people knew not to go up stairs. Harry probably thought he was special and just walked up there figuring Louis would find him if he really wanted to talk to him.

So that’s where Louis went to look, upstairs. He checked in every room along the hallway until he came to the last door on the left, his room. He opened his door and there he was. Harry was sitting on Louis’ bed, looking around the room with a blank expression on his face. Louis kept telling himself that he would find out and master every one of Harry’s expressions, just because he’s bad at showing his emotions doesn’t mean he  _can’t_  show them. After all, Liam had managed to read Harry. Louis couldn’t help the feeling of being jealous.

“Always the last place I look.” Louis said with a small grin playing on his lips. Harry jumped in surprise, but gave Louis a smile in return.

“Your room is really plain” Harry told Louis. “I thought it would resemble a normal, messy, teenage boy’s room.” Louis looked around his room, actually paying attention for the first time. Of course clothes were spread around the room, but that’s about it. The walls were plain and white, the bed was in the center of the room with black sheets. He didn’t really have much decoration in his room he noticed. He had a lamp, and his laptop on his desk, but other than that it seemed empty.

This was new house to Louis. They had moved a block over from their old house, just last year. Louis didn’t really mind this new house so he really didn’t feel like doing anything to it. He figured after this year, he would find a school to go to, buy flat with the money he’s been saving. He planned on decorating his flat when he bought it, just not this place, he didn’t really consider this ‘home’.   
“I don’t know how I should take that.” Louis said skeptically, walking into his room further.

“Take it however you want.” Harry said simply. “Anyways, what were we talking about downstairs?”

“Why you ran away when you saw Eleanor kiss me.” Louis said.

Harry turned towards Louis quickly. “I…I didn’t run away.” Harry scoffed. “I saw that you were busy with her, so I left you two alone.”

“Really?” Louis asked raising an eyebrow.

“Really.” Harry said simply. “I mean why would I run away? I wasn’t jealous or anything.”

Louis couldn’t help but put a smirk on his face. He didn’t even mention jealously before. “I know you feel it too Harry.”

Harry stood up from the bed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The curly haired boy swallowed nervously, that’s how Louis knew. That was a sign Louis was looking for.

“You feel this connection with me, don’t you Harry? There’s something about me you can’t put your finger on. Something that interests you, but it also intimidates you. You don’t know how to feel about me, do you? You want to get to know me better, you fell this unknown force pulling you towards me. It scares you doesn’t it Harry? Mostly because you’ve never felt this way and you don’t know what to do.” Louis spoke low, but loud enough for Harry to hear him.

He watched Harry swallow nervously again. Louis knew he was right on target. Whatever this was, they both felt it. “How did…” Harry cleared his voice. “What makes you say that?”

Louis simply smiled at Harry. “I feel the exact same way Harry. It’s not just you.” Louis walked closer to Harry and reached out his hand and gently grabbed the side of Harry’s hand. He smiled when Harry didn’t pull away, instead Harry grabbed his hand back but his face was emotionless – still.

“What do you suppose we do?” Harry asked. He looked at Louis like he had all the answers in the world, it made Louis feel powerful, yet scared.

“What do you want to do?” Louis asked, moving closer to Harry. He held his hand properly now, and Harry looked down away from Louis. “Unless you don’t want to change anything? Was I jumping to conclusions? Oh god I’m sorry Harry.” Louis said dropping Harry’s hand and backing away.

“No, Lou..”Harry protested. He quickly grabbed Louis hand and held it with both of his hands. “It’s not that.” He reassured with a smile.

“Then what is it?” the older boy asked.

Harry paused for a moment and let out a shaky breath. “This is all going too fast you know? Just a couple weeks ago I barely knew you.” Harry grabbed onto Louis’ other hand as well. “Now I just…I feel like we’ve been best mates for years.” Harry felt Louis squeeze his hand for encouragement. He really don’t know why he was acting this way, he was never shy or nervous. He never really talked how he felt but he wanted to though. He wanted to tell Louis everything about him, and that scared him.

“I’m not really good at the whole relationship thing.” Harry swallowed again, and he felt his hands get clammy. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you. I’m worried if we rush into this that’s what I’ll end up doing.” Louis’ hold on Harry’s hands grew firmer, for reassurance. “I’m open about who I am, and who I like. I don’t care what people think about me. But I know you care what people think of you. I don’t want to rush into something that you aren’t ready for and then just hurt you in the long run. That’s the very last thing I want to do.”

Harry finished and he looked off to the side. He didn’t want to look at Louis’ face, he was afraid of what he would see. He felt moisture on his face, and he knew he let a few tears fall.  _Why am I crying over this? Louis is just going to think I’m a waste of time now and will want nothing to do with me._  He thought to himself.

“Hey, we can make this work.” Louis told the younger boy. He cupped Harry’s cheek and wiped away the falling tears. “We’ll take this slow, we can even keep it between us for now.” Louis offered. That got Harry to looked at him, his green eyes trying to read into his blue ones.

“Really, do you want to?” Harry’s voice was just above a whisper. Louis nodded.

“I do Harry. It may have not been the way I wanted, but I think it sounds like a good idea.” Louis moved his hand from Harry’s cheek to the back of his neck. He played with the few strands of curls there, and they were as soft as he imagined. “Besides, is it really anybody’s business to know our personal lives, right?” Harry only nodded, it made sense. “And if anybody asks just say you are seeing somebody, but taking things slow, and you prefer not to discuss it.”

With that Louis gave Harry a kiss on his cheek, he didn’t want to push his limits. He took a step back from Harry, when suddenly he was being pulled forwards by his suspenders. Harry then pressed his mouth against Louis. It was a slow first kiss, but it was enough for both boys.

“Don’t be afraid to be too careful.” Harry told him with a wink. “You go ahead back to the party. I’m going to try to put myself back together.” Harry said headed towards Louis bathroom.

Louis backed out of his room slowly, keeping his eye on Harry. He still couldn’t believe that they were doing this. Louis knew he probably had a stupid grin plastered across his face but he didn’t care, he would blame it on the alcohol.

Harry couldn’t believe they were doing this either, but he was beyond happy. Actually this is the happiest he has probably ever been. They didn’t know what they were doing exactly, but Harry knew one thing he was certain about. He was certain he had made the right choice by coming to the party tonight.

****

Harry waited a good ten minutes before sneaking back down to the party. He was in a happier mood that he had been when he arrived. He too would use Louis’ excuse and blame the happy mood on the alcohol. Liam would probably be the only person to suspect his actual happy mood, but hopefully he was too drunk to worry about Harry. Liam needed to let loose more often.

Harry had wondered how long he and Louis were actually upstairs because nobody was in sight. He walked around downstairs each room he went into was empty. Harry then saw figures outside on the back porch. Harry walked outside and noticed Liam, Zayn, Niall, Eleanor, a short brunette, and Louis were all out there. Harry had seen the short girl with Niall earlier, and Eleanor was Louis friend.

Harry was just glad he had worn a blazer instead of mixing it up. It was bit chilly out there, and Harry’s first thought was Louis in his short sleeves. But Louis had on a jumper, when did he put that on? Harry shook his head and approached the group.

“Hazza!” Niall exclaimed seeing Harry come out of the house. “We said youu went home.” Niall slurred and Harry chucked at the Irish lad. “The po po shut dis par-tay to the groun.”

Harry figured the neighbors would have called in the party.

“Where have you been Haz?” Liam asked. His eyes were glassy and his cheeks were pink, but he still sounded sober. Damn.

“I was in the toilet.” Harry said, which wasn’t a lie.

“The one upstairs?” he questioned.

“Yeah, somebody was in the one downstairs already.” Harry explained.

“What were you doing in the loo for so long?” Liam wondered.

“Why am I being interrogated? Did I do something wrong? What do you do in the toilet Liam?” Harry shot back. He didn’t understand why Liam always insisted on being his fucking dad all the time.

Liam looked at Harry skeptically but dropped the subject. He looked around at everybody, The short girl has her arms wrapped around Niall, who was eating out of a bag of chips. Zayn lit up a cigarette and passed one to Eleanor as well. Liam was standing by Zayn looking between Harry and Louis. Louis was sitting on the railing, looking at Harry from the corner of his eye.

“I should probably head home.” Harry said looking around the group.

“You aren’t staying over?” Louis asked, did Louis expect Harry to stay over? Harry didn’t know if he could. His mum would let him. He just didn’t know if he could handle himself because he would be tempted.

Harry shook his head.“No. Some other time though.” He promised. 

The seven of them headed back inside and Harry informed Liam he would walk home, the cold air would help sober him up, besides he could use some fresh air.

“No Harry!” Niall had shouted as Harry was getting ready to walk out the door. “There are monsters out there at night.” Niall informed him, he did look quite scared. Harry thought it was one of the cutest things ever, he’ll remind Niall tomorrow.

“How about I drive you?” Louis suggested. “That way you can be sure no monsters get you. I’ve only had one drink, two at the most and that was hours ago.”

Niall seemed pleased with that solution. He hugged Harry then passed out on the couch. Harry figured that Eleanor and Dessie(the short girl) would sleep in one of Louis’ younger sister’s rooms. Or so he hoped, now he was worried that Eleanor would sneak into bed with Louis. Harry was only being paranoid, Louis wouldn’t do that, not even a day of being together. He had to trust Louis, he was sure nothing would happen. But Harry didn’t really know Eleanor, he didn’t know what type of girl she was. He just wanted her to stay away from his – boyfriend? What were they now? Lovers? Partners? Harry was fond of the term boyfriend. It made his insides get a weird feeling, a good feeling though.

Harry watched Eleanor and Dessie go up stairs, Zayn following soon after. He turned around to face Liam and Louis – the three that were left.

“Well, I’ll wait in the car.” Louis said, walking outside.

Harry turned to Liam, who looked suspicious. “Anything you want to tell me?” He asked. Sometimes Harry felt like Liam was trying to read his mind, and that scared him, like now.

“No, I don’t think so?” Harry said, trying to sound confused. Harry made his way towards the front door.

“Are you sure?” Liam asked on last time. Harry sighed and gave Liam a quick hug.

“I’m sure.” Harry forced a sad smile on his face, just to play Liam. It seemed to have worked.

“Just be careful Harry.” He said before pulling a blanket out of nowhere and putting it on Niall. The last thing Harry saw as he exited the house was Liam’s back retreating up the stairs. Harry sighed. It wasn’t as hard as he thought. He- _they_  could do this. He and Louis were in this together.

Harry got into Louis car, and Louis pulled out of the drive way. The drive to Harry’s house was quiet, it wasn’t awkward, just quiet. Almost peaceful. He looked out the window, watching the houses pass by. A warm hand took a hold of his hand that was resting on his lap. Harry looked at Louis in surprise, but he held onto the warm hand for the rest of the short drive.

Harry really only lived a block away from Louis. If he walked home, he could have cut through a few yards and got home in ten minutes. Harry was glad Louis drove him though, it was much better than what walking would have been.

Before he knew it, Louis pulled up into Harry’s driveway. They sat there for awhile before Harry finally turned towards Louis. “Thanks for the ride home, Lou.” Harry said biting on his lip.

“You didn’t think I would let my boyfriend walk home in the cold, would I?” Louis said. Harry blushed at the word ‘boyfriend’. He liked being Lou’s boyfriend. Louis smiled at Harry, noticing what he had just said, Harry didn’t seem too worried about it.

“Bye Louis.” Harry said leaning over to give his new boyfriend a gentle kiss goodbye.

“Bye Curly.” Louis said. “Will I see you tomorrow?” Louis asked as Harry opened his door and got out.

“Maybe.” He said with a shrug. “Or maybe I’ll just make you wait until Monday at school.” Harry said with a grin before shutting the door. He could feel Louis’ eyes on him as he walked up to his house. He still felt the eyes as he bent down to get the spare key from under the doormat. He felt Louis’ eyes on him until he was fully inside and the door was shut. Now Louis could tell Niall that Harry was safe from any monsters.


	6. Chapter Six

Harry didn’t go see Louis the next day. Or anyone else for that matter. Instead, he stayed at home and focused on his course work. Already weeks into the new school year, he already had a lot of work to complete. All of his work could mostly be completed at the end of the class since but he still had a few assignments to do.

Niall and Liam had text Harry constantly throughout the day. First Niall would ask if he wanted to go to Nando’s, or just simply hang out. Harry replied saying he was busy doing course work. He did inform Niall about the whole monster incident from the night before. Liam on the other hand would ask Harry if he was okay, or if anything happened. At one point Harry honestly wanted to reach his hand into to phone and slap Liam. Didn’t he ever worry about himself at all?

So all in all, Sunday was a boring day. He felt like he needed it though, time away from friends and family. He just needed time to think and actually look at the changes in his life from the past couple weeks.

****

Monday came around and when Liam picked Harry up. Then Liam drove to pick up Niall. The three had decided to carpool together for school, it ‘saves on gas’ Liam explained. On the way to school, Liam and Niall had told Harry about the previous days the other four boys had without him. It would be a lie to say that Harry wasn’t upset about the other boys hanging out without him. He made the decision to isolate himself yesterday, so it was his own fault for the way he was feeling.

“Oh, and Dessie was there!” Niall said grinning. 

They had arrived to school and Harry couldn’t help but smile at the happy face Niall had. The other boys had went to bowling yesterday, then Nando’s afterward. Liam had won at bowling, he boasted about that as Niall told the story.

“Dessie as in the girl from the party?” Harry wanted to make sure.

“Yeah. She’s Eleanor’s friend.” Niall answered. “She goes to an all girl school, but she models with her.”

Harry heard that Eleanor was a model. She wasn’t professional, just dabbled a bit. She was still a student after all. Harry didn’t want to think about Eleanor. She was nice but Harry couldn’t help but think of her having feelings for Louis. She did kiss him at the party, and nice girls don’t go around kissing their close friends. Unless they were sluts, but Harry knew Eleanor wasn’t a slut.

“Have you asked her on a date then?” Harry wondered as the boys walked into the school. Harry never used his locker, he preferred to carry his books around in his shoulder bag. So he followed his short, blonde friend to his locker. Liam on the other hand had walked away from both boys, headed to his own locker.

“Yeah, Lou set it up.” Niall said with a roll of his eyes. “He acted like I couldn’t have asked her out myself.” 

Harry only laughed. “What about that Janet girl?” Niall had mentioned he and this Irish girl were getting serious. Niall has never been in a serious relationship, it could have been a misunderstanding. Then again, Harry himself had never been in a serious relationship either, well until now. He was pretty sure he wanted a real relationship with Louis.

“She was a ginger. Gingers have no souls.” Niall explained opening his locker. Harry punched Niall lightly in the arm. He sent the red headed girl that just passed an apologetic smile. 

“Niall, you can’t go around saying things like that.” Harry hissed at him.

His friend only shrugged, not caring. Harry lent against the lockers, waiting for Niall to hurry up so they could go to class. Niall was slow this morning, causing the three of them to be later than usual. Class would be starting in a couple minutes and Harry wanted to see Louis. Although he didn’t know what to expect. How should he act around Louis? Normal and friendly? Or should he be touchy and affectionate? Something inside told Harry to just be himself, so that’s what he would do.

Niall tapped his fingers on his chin, thinking of what else he would need. Harry groaned at Niall, signaling for him to hurry up. He watched as his friend grabbed one more book before shutting his locker. Harry pushed himself away from the lockers and followed Niall to class.

Surprisingly the class was only half full. Harry made his way to his seat, Mr. Boyd didn’t give assigned seats. So the class just sat where they did on the first day, of course they could switch and move around if they wished to. But Harry liked his seat, it was in the back and he could see the whole class without turning around. His friends however did change seats after the first day of school. Liam sat at the desk to his right, with Zayn in front of him. Louis would sit in front of Harry, which easily became a distraction. Niall sat to his left, in the back left corner of the room. Harry figured that putting Niall in the corner didn’t help at all with his friendly personality and his loud voice.

Harry didn’t look at Louis directly as he passed him, but when Harry sat down Louis was turned around in his seat and looking at Harry. The younger boy didn’t really know exactly what to do. This was the first time back at school since they’ve been together. Hell, this is the first time they’ve seen each other since they got together. Harry decided to keep it simple.

So he smiled at Louis, “Hi.”

Louis was feeling the same way as Harry, though Harry didn’t show his emotions. Louis was sure he was fidgety, but he tried to make it non-noticeable. He didn’t want people to ask questions, he had to be kept together or people would notice. “Hey.” he said back, letting an uncontrollable smile play on his lips.

Harry looked directly into Louis eyes. Which was a mistake, every time he looked into them he couldn’t look away. It was like he could feel them glazing into his soul. It scared him, but at the same time he just wanted to surrender to those eyes. Harry forced himself to look away, it was hard but he learned that he could. He just needed practice, oh yes he planned to practice with Louis.

“Sorry I missed yesterday.” Harry smirked as he said this towards Louis.

But Louis saw that smirk and gave Harry one of his own. “It’s fine. Just means you and me will have to do something else to make up for it.”

“Did you have anything in mind?”

“You could always come over to mine?” Louis asked with a shrug of his shoulder. Harry smiled and leaned his elbows on the desk, getting closer to Louis.

“Are you suggesting that I should meet you’re family?” Harry said quietly, raising a playful eyebrow at his boyfriend. “Isn’t it too soon for that, it’s only been like two days? Almost three?” 

“I was thinking more along the lines of getting to know each other better. Mum’s going to be at work, sister’s will be out of the house. So it’ll be just you and me.” Louis whispered back.

“What happened to taking things slowly?” Harry asked, not really concerned, just curious.

“Who said I was implying what you were thinking?” Louis answered his question with one of his own.

“I did.” Harry told him.

“We’ll just see what happens then.” 

“I guess we will.” Harry told him before slowly sitting back. Mr. Boyd decided to start class at that time, and Louis turned around in his seat. Harry glanced at Liam who was staring at Harry.

Shit, Harry didn’t think anyone would be looking at the two of them, I guess he didn’t consider Liam. He glanced around at his other friends. Zayn was busy writing something, the top of his tongue poking out from the corner of his mouth. Niall was busy with his phone, probably texting that Dessie girl. 

“I will be passing back your journals. When you get them, I want you to write about someone that interests you the most. You don’t necessary have to go into detail, just write why they do and how they make you feel.” Mr. Boyd said as he passed out journals one by one. Harry was beginning to think that Mr. Boyd and Ms. Gibson planned their coursework together. 

As soon as that green journal was placed on his desk, Harry opened it up to a new page. He pulled out a pen from his bag and wrote the date on the paper. Who should he write about? Many people had interest him. Well, until they got boring and then he’d move on. Louis interested Harry and he never got boring. Would it be too cliche to write about a new boyfriend? Harry thought about it then just decided to write about Louis anyways. It also gave him an excuse to think about the boy in front of him.

 _I know this guy,_  Harry began.  _There’s something about him thats different from anyone else I know. When I first met him, I felt this connection and it scared me. The weird thing is, I’ve known him for years and I’m just now getting involved with him. It’s like this unknown force wants us to be together – yes together. I don’t have a problem with it at all. It wasn’t suppose to happen like this. I wasn’t suppose to end up with him. It wasn’t suppose to happen. I was happy with watching him from afar. But it did happen. I’m with him and I’m happier now than I ever have been. But since fate is taking matters into its own hands, I’ll just let it happen – whatever it is. Everything about Lo- this person, interests me. Even if he is just sitting there doing nothing I feel like I could just watch him and never grow tired of it. To be honest, it scares the shit out of me. But he makes me feel so happy. I feel like I don’t have to pretend to be somebody I’m not. I can be myself when I’m with him. I trust him. I don’t know what to call it, but I like it. I like being with him. I don’t want it to end, and I hope this is just the beginning._

Harry looked back over his writing and shut his notebook then put it in his bag. Most people were still writing, so Harry put his head down on his desk and closed his eyes. He would just wait until Mr. Boyd continued with the class.

Soft fingers were going through his hair. It didn’t want it to stop. It felt nice. People almost never played with his hair, they would always make comments about how soft it looked but they never touched it. Harry loved his hair being played with. Soon the fingers were gone and a force was dragging him away. Dragging him from the peaceful feeling.

“Harry mate, wake up.” Niall urged as he shook him again. Harry mumbled something at Niall and turned his head the other way. The soft fingers were back in his hair and Harry closed his eyes again.

“Lou, stop.” Liam’s voice was close by. “Playing with his hair will only make him fall back to sleep.” 

“His hair is just so soft.” Louis whined but took his fingers out of his hair. Harry groaned at the missing fingers and sat up. He was still in the English classroom, he must have fell asleep. 

“How long have I been out?” he asked to nobody in particular as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

“All period mate. We have five minutes left before our next class.” Niall helped. He pulled Harry’s bag off the ground and plopped it onto his lap. “What are we doing after lads?” 

Harry put his bag on his desk and laid his head on top of that. “I start work back tomorrow.” He informed his friend.

“Where do you work?” Louis questioned.”

“A bakery off of West Avenue.” Harry told him as he sat back up. 

“Is it by that one phone company?” his boyfriend wondered. Harry nodded and looked at Niall.

“But tonight I think I’m going over to Louis’?” He raised a questioning eyebrow at Louis to make sure that was the plan. Louis nodded his head and moved Harry’s bag to sit on top of the desk. Harry just laid his head down on Louis’ lap. It was much nicer than his bag, plus Louis started playing with his hair again which made Harry close his eyes. 

“Oh great!” Niall boomed. “We’ll all go.” Harry opened his eyes and sat up to look at Niall. 

“Wait, don’t you want to ask Louis before you go and inviting yourself over?” Harry thought they were going to be alone, he didn’t really want the rest of the boys there. Then he and Louis couldn’t be together and ‘get to know each other’. 

“Nah, Louis doesn’t mind, do you Lou?” Niall and Harry both looked at Louis. Harry saw the apology in Louis’ eyes.

“No, I don’t mind.” Louis told Niall.

“Great.” Harry said, not trying to sound dull. It didn’t work.

“Aw, cheer up Mr. Bed Head.” Niall said shaking his curls.

Harry only slapped his hand away. He could just tell the rest of the school day would be slow and boring. Harry just wish he was back home in bed, with Louis there to keep him warm. Lucy might not like that, but Harry could care less.

****

Harry assumed correctly. His day was boring and each class period seemed to drag on for hours when in reality it was only an hour each class. To make matters worse, Louis would shoot him apologetic looks or long gazes at him. It really didn’t help because all he wanted to do was get lost in those blue eyes. But he couldn’t, so that upset him more.

When the final bell rang, Harry walked over towards Louis. “I know, you’re sorry.” He told him before Louis could say anything. “I forgive you. I just want you to know.” 

“So were good?” Louis made sure.

“Yes.” 

Louis smiled and wrapped one arm around Harry’s shoulder as he began to walk out of class. Harry wanted to reach up and hold the hand that hung loose off his shoulder. But he couldn’t, not in the halls where people would be looking. If anyone did ask however, Harry already had a plan. He would just tell them Louis was a touchy-feely kind of guy, which everyone knew. So it wasn’t weird to have his arm draped around Harry. 

Nobody asked though. 

Harry walked with Louis to his locker. Usually he would leave with Liam and Niall, but during chemistry Louis had told them he would take Harry home, so not to wait on him. They did have their last class together, and they were going to the same place after.

“Oh, can I take a shower at yours?” Harry asked while at the locker. He knew when he said it he would get a weird look from Louis. 

“I usually take showers when I get home from school.” Harry explained. “I hate the feeling of ‘school’ being on me when I’m not in it.” 

Louis chuckled but didn’t say anything. “It’s fine with me.” Louis shut his locker and put his arm back around Harry that he took away to get into his locker. “Did you bring clothes with you?” He teased.  
“No, I was hoping I could borrow a pair of yours?” Harry felt the blush starting at the tops of his ears, but he tried to fight it off.

“Oh sure, why not. I still have your shirt you me borrow, so you can wear that.” Louis told him as they walked out of the building.

“Did you wash it?” Harry questioned him. “No offense, but the idea of wearing an unwashed week old shirt isn’t very hygienic. Especially just getting out of the shower.”

“Oh, look at you using big words.” Louis laughed. “But yes. It is in fact washed. Don’t act surprised or anything. I do wash my clothes.”

“I’d figured. You always smell good.” Harry felt another blush coming on as soon as he said that.

“You smell me?” Louis asked as they arrived to the car.

“I don’t  _sniff_  you. But sometimes I’ll catch a hint of what you smell like when you’re close by.” Harry told him as he go into the passenger side of the car.

Louis laughed, as he got in next to Harry then started up the car. “What do I smell like?”

Harry smiled and though about it. What did he smell like? “It’s not fruity, it’s more like a berry smell. But there is a spice to it. It’s hard to explain a smell when you don’t know what it is exactly.” Harry told him as he started driving. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me what I smell like?” Harry asked.

“Hmm.” Louis seemed to think for a moment before he said a word, “school.” 

Louis busted out laughing, which made Harry laugh, even though he didn’t want too. “That’s not funny.”He lied to Louis.

“Then why are you laughing?” 

“Because I like the way you laughed, it was cute.”   
Louis glanced at Harry. Then his hand snuck onto Harry’s lap to hold his hand, just like the first night. Harry gripped Louis hand in return, as he looked out the window. The rest of the way home was quite. The good, calm quite that Harry liked when he was with Louis.

They got to Louis house, and Harry noticed that the house looked completely different tan on saturday. You could tell a bunch of kids lived there, but Harry liked it. He’s always wanted a younger sibling, thats probably never going to happen. Harry looked around at the house now. What cleaning services did Louis used? Harry wondered if Liam helped put the house back normal.

Harry dropped his bag off by the door, along with his shoes. Then he headed upstairs as Louis followed him. He found his way to Louis bedroom, knowing exactly which room it was now. As soon as Harry walked into the room, he took his blazer off and tossed it on the bed. While he was getting undressed, Louis went into his bathroom and found Harry a towel. 

He walked back into his room and saw Harry standing in nothing but his boxers. This is the second time, besides this time Harry wasn’t wet. But he was going to be soon. Louis stopped those thoughts right there before they processed any further. “You couldn’t have waited until I was out of the room?” Louis groaned.

“You were out of the room.” Harry told him cheekily. 

“You know what I meant.”

“I wanted to get those clothes off. I don’t like wearing clothes.” Harry told him, as he walked into the bathroom. He figured out how to start the water and he let it warm up before turning towards Louis. 

“You know you could join me, if you wanted to.” Harry told him, smirking slightly.

“I know I could.” Louis told him as if he’d already thought about that. “We’re taking things slow, remember?” 

Harry sighed and walked over towards Louis. “Fine. If you change your mind, you know where I’ll be.” Harry told him before kissing him. It was a bit of a tease kiss, one of those slow ones that you just wanted to make last. But Harry made it short before disappearing into the bathroom.

Louis groan aloud, making sure Harry heard it. He set out some clothes on the bed before rushing out of his room. He thought he wouldn’t be able to resist Harry’s offer and he set his mind on taking things slow. So he made the right choice.

Harry hadn’t used many peoples showers before. It wasn’t weird for him to use other peoples showers, it’s just he usually preferred his own. He figured out that he liked Louis’ shower. It wasn’t too big, but it was roomy. His thoughts wondered to what he would be doing if Louis  _had_  accepted his offer. Just because they were taking this slow, didn’t mean Harry couldn’t think about certain things.

Harry hurried and washed himself before stepping out of the shower stall. He wrapped the towel around his waist before returning to Louis’ room. On the bed, he found the clothes Louis had laid out for him. His shirt that he had let Louis borrow, a fresh pair of black boxers, black sweatpants which would work since he and Louis weren’t exactly the same size, and even some socks. Harry smiled at the actions of his boyfriend as he picked up his shirt and noticed it smelled like Louis. He slipped it on over his head, then continued to get dressed.

****

When Harry was dressed and dry, he made his way downstairs. He had found a beanie as he was casually looking around in Louis’ room, so he wore that because he decided he liked it. He also decided he liked wearing Louis’ clothes. Even though Louis’ was smaller than harry by a little bit, his clothes seemed bigger. But Harry didn’t mind, not that he would ever say that aloud.

Laughter could be heard as Harry reached the bottom of the stairs. Niall’s laugh was the loudest of all. A part of him wished that the other three boys wouldn’t have shown up. But they did, lucky Harry. Maybe he could stay later than the rest of the boys? That is, if Louis would let him.

Harry followed the voices and was lead straight to the boys, in the lounge. There were two couches, three chairs, with a tv hung from the front wall. Liam and Zayn were on the couch nearest the window. Niall had made himself cozy on one of the chairs, changing his attention from his cell phone to the tv. Louis was laying on the other couch with his head propped up onto the arm rest.

“So the whole thing turned out to be a joke.” Liam had said with a smile on his face. Harry must have missed what they were talking about.

“Oh Liam. You gullible sod.” Louis laughed, throwing his head back and causing him to notice Harry. “Hello there curly, have a good shower?”

“Oi, Harry you’ve been spending a lot of time in Louis’ bathroom.” Niall joked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Harry only rolled his eyes at his friend and walked over to the couch Louis was laying on. His boyfriend made no move to get up or move over so Harry could sit down. So Harry decided to plop himself down on top of Louis. He rested his head against Louis chest and he could hear the other boys heart beating. It was calming actually, Harry decided he liked it. 

“Do you two want to be alone?” Zayn asked. Harry couldn’t tell if the raven haired boy was being serious or not. 

“Yes.” was Harry immediate answer. 

If Louis hadn’t laughed afterward, then the boys would probably suspect something. “Oh Harry! Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Louis teased. “Remind me later and I’ll ravish you right here on this very couch.”

“I can’t wait.” Harry grinned. “But what if your sisters walk in on us, oh bless their virgin eyes!” Harry knew he was over doing it, but he was having a laugh.

“You have a point there Curly.” Louis replied before thinking for a moment. “Okay, my room tonight. Ten o’clock. Don’t be late.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve made other plans at that same time. I can’t make it.” Harry couldn’t help but let a smile slip past hims lips. 

“You what?” Louis exclaimed.

“How about a rein check?” Harry asked.

“I guess that will have to work.” Louis then looked at the other boys over Harry’s head. “Zayn, got any plans at ten o’clock tonight?” He asked with a smirk. Then Harry hit him. 

****

Niall, Liam, and Zayn all left before Louis’ sisters had come home, but Harry stayed and finally got to meet them. His favorite would probably be Daisy, she reminded him of a shy version of Louis. He thought she was adorable. Of course he had liked all of Louis’ younger sisters, but he was allowed to have favorites, he would just keep it a secret. 

Harry didn’t know young girls could be so playful and violent. He had an image in his head of all young girls sitting around and having tea parties or playing dress up. Well, that image was out of his mine not even five minutes after knowing the girls. They liked to jump on Louis, which then lead to the girls jumping on Harry. It was all good fun though.

He had even met Jay for the first time. She looked young for her age, but that was a good thing. She was nice to Harry and had invited him to stay for dinner, which he accepted politely. It was a little weird meeting Louis’ family, but he feels like he understands his boyfriend more. He and Louis had this weird connection – it was hard to explain what exactly it was.

After dinner, they all went their separate ways. The girls retreated to their rooms, either playing or doing school work, or whatever little girls did these days. Jay was walking around the house for awhile, trying to clean up after her kids. She finally went upstairs after sometime, Harry wouldn’t blame her, she looked tired and he felt bad for relaxing while she worked hard on keeping up with her kids.

Harry and Louis managed to find themselves back on the couch. Harry was again laying on top of Louis while they both watched a film on tv. He turned his head, and buried it into Louis’ chest, getting tired of the movie. Warm hands hand found their way into Harry’s curls and began stroking them softly. His eyes closed and he fought with himself trying to remain awake. 

“You okay?” Louis asked him, his breath tickled Harry’s ear.

“M’tired.” Harry mumbled his replied into the chest below him. 

Louis hands began to rub up and down Harry’s back soothingly. Harry had decided he was in love with Louis’ hands. Soon those hands began to tease Harry. They would move in slow patterns on his back, then they would stop. Harry would mumble something at Louis and then those hands would start to move again causing Harry to smile. 

After awhile Harry sat up and looked down at Louis. His eyes traveled around his face taking him every detail. How his eyes looked darker in the dim light. Or his mouth was curved, not smiling but on the edge of. Harry’s eyes found Louis’ jawline and he bent his head down to place soft kisses there. Sitting back up and smiling down at Louis, Harry wondered what did he do to make him so lucky. Louis was perfect in Harry’s eyes, nothing would change that.

“I should probably head home.” Harry told Louis, climbing his way off of him. He swore he heard Louis mutter ‘fucking tease’ as he sat up.

“What about ten o’clock, my room?” Louis suggested.  
“I told you, rein check.” Harry gave him a small smile.

Louis followed Harry as he made his way towards the front of the house. “You don’t really have plans with someone else, do you?” Louis asked, worry crossing over his face.

“Yes I do.” Harry said smugly. “Her name is Lucy. I should probably tell you she sleeps with me every night.”

“Harry, how could you?” Louis gasped, but relief was shown on his face.

“Im sorry, I should have told you.” Harry said. He gave Louis a quick kiss before grabbing his bag and heading outside. “I’m going to figure out everything about you, just so you know.”

Louis smirked, following Harry outside. “Oh, you think so? Maybe I will learn everything about you too.”   
“I hope so.” Harry whispered. He walked back over towards Louis, giving him another kiss before walking away. He hoped Louis would take that kiss as a promise he just made. He swore to himself that he would learn everything about his boyfriend. He wanted to make this work and he needed to open up and trust Louis. That last part shouldn’t be a real problem.


	7. Chapter Seven

So that’s what they did, they got to know each other more and more.

Over the next few weeks, Harry and Louis would write down questions for the other person to answer – well this is how they did it during school hours. They tried to be sneaky about it so their friends wouldn’t find too weird, at least it worked. Well nobody really said anything to them about it, or seemed to notice.

The questions could be anything, varying from being silly to serious. For example, one of the questions Louis had written down for Harry once was ‘ _If you ever owned a pet gold fish, what would you name it? And would you ever tried to eat it?_ ” Sometimes Harry wondered what was going on in his boyfriends head. But then Louis would also ask these romantic questions and Harry really didn’t know which set questions he liked more.

Harry had learned a lot about Louis from these questions. Some of them were probably pointless, but he’s glad he knows them. You never know what could be useful for future reference. Some of the things were just nice to know, like he told Louis, he wanted to know everything about him.

Sure, most people would get to know one another before rushing into a relationship but Harry and Louis were different. They felt something click from the beginning, started the (secret)relationship, then learned more about each other. It worked, and Louis like it that way. It wasn’t the ‘normal’ way, they weren’t suppose to do it like this. But they did, and it worked for them.

When they weren’t in school, they spent most of their time together. Well, besides when Harry had to work in the bakery. But usually they hung out with the boys, sometimes other friends. They spent a lot of time together, and Harry found it interesting how he never grew tired of Louis. In fact, when he wasn’t with Louis he missed him. But he was always with Louis, and when he wasn’t with him personally, he would probably be found texting him. It was crazy, their newly found relationship grew so fast in such a short amount of time.

They had continued to keep their relationship a secret. Harry didn’t really have a problem if it was out in the open or kept a secret. He just wanted Louis to feel comfortable, and he wasn’t exactly sure where Louis stood on that topic. To Harry, the main reason they kept it a secret so that people won’t intrude on their personal life’s, and he knew people would. This is Harry’s first serious relationship and he didn’t want to ruin it, so if keeping it a secret helped them, then he was all for it.

****

Harry had the day off.  He and the boys decided to go walk around instead of hanging around indoors, it was a nice day after all.  Niall had suggested they grab a bite of Chinese food, and  Harry couldn’t deny is friend.  After all, it did put Niall in a better mood, if that was possible.  Liam had even seemed to be smiling more, but Harry had a suspicious that it ha nothing to do with the delicious food.

They made an odd group, or it seemed so by the looks they got while on their walk.  First there was Zayn, with his jet black hair, letter-man jacket looking like a bad-boy-jock.  Then there was Liam, the quiet one of the group, dresses a bit like a ‘nerd’ and is more mature than the others.  Louis was the preppy looking one, wearing stripes, colorful chinos, TOMS, and braces.  Niall, the goofy class clown, with blonde hair and an Irish decent.  Last was Harry, with his famous head of curls, dimples, and flirty personality would seem the most ‘average’.  

“Did you hear about the dance?”  Liam asked, disrupting Harry from his thoughts.

Oh yes, the school dance.  A formal dance, dresses, suits, ties, the whole sha-bang.  It usually took place this time of year, Harry was just surprised with how quickly it had come up.  This Friday actually.  Harry had only been to the dance once, and he didn’t even stay the whole night.  

“Yeah buddy.”  Niall said, a smile appearing on his face.  ”I think I might ask Dessie to go with me.”

“Things going good for you two?” asked a curious Zayn.  Niall only responded with a wiggle of his eyebrows and his smile growing.

“What about you Hazza?”  Harry looked at Liam, “Are you going?”

“I wasn’t really planning on it.”  Harry shrugged as it was not a big deal.

 ”Harry, this is your last year of school, you can’t just not go to the dance.  This will be your last chance to go.”  Liam said with precaution.

“How about the four of us go then, together as a group.  Girls do it, why can’t we?”  That seemed like a perfect idea, maybe they could even split up into couples, Liam and Zayn seem to have something going on.  Or they wish to, they don’t hide things well.

“Sounds good to me.”  Louis aid, draping an arm casually around Harry’s shoulder.  

“Of course it does, anything to do with Harry sounds good to you Louis.”  Liam muttered.   

“You know what, I think me and Harry here will go together.”  Louis said, tightening his arm around Harry.  ”Now you and Zayn can either go together like you both want to or find different dates and be moody jealous pricks throughout the night.  Your choice.”  And with that he let go of Harry and walked away.

 ”Great, you just upset my date.  Now I’m going to need to work extra hard just to please him.”  Harry shot at Liam before walking after Louis.

“I don’t want to know what you both do in your spare time!”  Niall shouted after Harry and he swore he could hear the Irishman’s laugh from meters away.

Great, now his friends knew something was going on between the  two boys that walked away.  Harry really couldn’t have cared less at that moment.  Louis was just a little ways ahead of him, so he jogged up to finally catch up to the older boy.  He really didn’t know what exactly made Louis upset, he couldn’t be bothered to know either.  He just wanted to comfort Louis at that moment.  

Harry wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and just held him.  Louis held onto Harry, hugging him tightly.  The two just stood there for awhile, swaying back and forth embracing one another.  Eventually Harry kissed the top of Louis head and puled away.

“You alright?”  he cupped Louis’ cheek, lifting his face up to meet his.

“Yeah.  Liam just makes it seem like I worship you.”  Louis said, chuckling slightly. “I don’t know, I just felt he meant it in another way.  Like I followed you around like a puppy on a leash.”

“And that upsets you?” Harry tried to understand.

“Yes. No.  I don’t know.  I just don’t wanna feel like I’m always doing what you want, I want to be in control to.  I want to be able to walk the puppy from time to time and not be the puppy.”

Harry tried to hold back a laugh, his boyfriend was something else.  ”You walk that puppy then Louis.  You take control.  Grab onto that leash and start walking.”

Harry should have realized that was the wrong thing to say.  Once he saw that gleam in Louis’ eyes and that wicked smile appear on his face, he knew he has made a wrong turn.  Louis suddenly grabbed Harry by his shirt collar and started pulling him in the direction of his house.  Maybe that wasn’t the wrong thing to say after all.

****

Louis never really did like the school dances.  He always would go to them because people expected him to go.  Of course he loved dancing, that wasn’t the problem.  In fact, he wasn’t quite sure what the problem was, he just knew he wasn’t a big fan of them.  This year will be different though.  It’s his last year and he is going with the one person he’s been wanting to go with for awhile.  

Louis had picked Harry up around six pm.  But when Harry opened the door in his black tux with that black bow tie the only thing Louis wanted to do was drag him into that house, and lock them both in the bedroom.  Sadly he couldn’t do that, maybe later if he was lucky.  

They ended up going out to dinner with the other three boys plus Eleanor and Dessie.  They looked like a big group, but the only ‘single’ ones were Liam, Zayn, and Eleanor.  Nobody officially knew about Louis and Harry, but their friends suspected.  Well besides Dessie, she seems oblivious to everything,  Louis decided he liked her as a friend.  

“The dance starts at 8.”  Liam said as the waiter took away his plate of food.

“What time is it now?”  Harry pulled out his phone to check the time as he said this.

“7:54”  Louis said, he was faster pulling out his phone then Harry was.  

“We should leave now then.”  Liam started to get pay for the bill.  Harry handed Liam some money, as did Louis and Zayn.  Niall was happily trying to lick his plate clean.  

It took the group about ten minutes to get to the school. Once they found decent parking spots near each other they headed on in.  They were taking pictures by the entrance, and Niall and Dessie took a picture together.  Harry turned towards Louis, he didn’t know whether they should take a couples picture or a group one with Zayn, Liam, and Eleanor.

Liam decided for them, as he pushed the two ahead.  Harry looked at Louis, and then pulled him in close for the picture.  His arm went around Louis’ waist, and Louis’ arm went around his.  They both had equally big smiles on their face.  Once the camera flashed, Harry didn’t remove his arm.  Instead he just lead Louis into the dance.

It was dim inside, christmas lights were hung all around the walls.  The music booth up front was giving off most of the light.  Round tables were spread out equally across the room, with a space for the dance floor in the front.  Students were already dancing, and some were sitting at the tables, but most were standing around and chit-chatting.

Harry spotted Niall and Dessie over buy the food table, figures that’s the first place they’d go as soon as they got inside.  He didn’t understand how Niall could still possibly be hungry, he had just eaten after all.

“Do you want to find a table?” Louis asked snapping Harry out of his thoughts.  

Harry simply nodded and guided his boyfriend to an empty table.  He tried not to notice the looks the two of them were receiving.  Nobody really knew about them, and here they were attending the school dance together like it was expected.  In fact, Harry kind of enjoyed it, knowing that people knew he and Louis were together, knowing that Louis was  _his_ , not hiding it.  Well, nobody actually knew they were together but it was quite obvious.

Soon after they found an empty table, they were joined by Liam, Zayn, and Eleanor.  Harry had been curious all night to why Eleanor was in their ‘group’, he didn’t ask though that would seem rude.  He thought maybe Zayn and Liam just didn’t want to go together, or at least talk about it.  It was obvious that the two boys fancied each other, even if it was a small liking.

“Where did Niall drag Dessie off to?”  Eleanor asked looking around the dance.  Harry couldn’t help but notice she chose the chair next to Louis, his Louis.  He told himself the only reason he scooted his chair closer to Louis was because  he wanted to be closer to him.  It was true.

“They went off to the food table.”  Louis even nodded his head in their direction.

“We just ate.”  Liam said looking over at Niall.  

Harry looked at the boy to his right and laughed.  ”You think that’s going to stop him?”

Liam only gave Harry a smile in return.  At least he was lighting up a bit, maybe he’ll even let loose a little bit.

Niall and Dessie had joined them at the table a few minutes later.  Niall had a plate full of food, and Dessie only had a cup of red liquid, which Harry assumed to be punch.  As soon as Niall sat down he began to eat his food like it was about to leave his sight if he didn’t eat it quick enough.  The whole table just stopped and stared at him.

“Continue as you were.”  Niall said once he swallowed.

“Niall, do you have to eat all the time man?”  Zayn said from beside the blonde boy. Zayn only recieved a glare in return.  

“I’m a growing man, Zayn.” 

“So am I, but I don’t eat nearly half as much as you.”  Harry explained to his friend.

“You guys are making it sound like I have a problem.”

“You don’t think eating all the time is a problem?”  Liam asked, looking at Niall like he grew a second head.

“I don’t eat all the time.”

Liam laughed at Niall.  ”Figure of speech.”

Niall shrugged and continued to eat.  Harry was amused by his friend so obvious sometimes.

The conversation around the table picked up again. Eleanor started talking about someone in her history class, Zayn seemed to know the person and made a few comments as well. Harry was growing slightly bored of Eleanor already, her conversations made him want to fall asleep.

Suddenly a hand was running up his thigh, and that caused him to wake right up.  Everyone else seemed to be unfazed by this, but of course they couldn’t see what was going on under the table.  Harry turned towards Louis who was looking at Eleanor, but held a smirk on his face. The curly haired boy quickly grabbed Louis hand before it went up any further. He just laced his fingers through Louis’ and settled their hands on his lap.

A while later when Niall was finished eating, he and Dessie headed out to the dance floor.  Soon after that, Zayn had politely asked Eleanor to dance since Liam wasn’t making an offer to anytime soon. Harry felt slightly bad for his two friends, but more so for Liam. 

“Did you just see that?”  Liam asked as soon as Eleanor and Zayn were out of hear shot.  ”One minute he is being all lovey dovey, the next he asks some girl to dance!”

“Liam, you could have asked him to dance.” Louis told him.  

“He would have never agreed to.”

“You never know now, I say you go butt in and steal him away.”  Harry told him.

“Yeah, go sweep him off his feet.”  Louis put in.

“You know what, I think I will.”  Liam seemed more confident now.

“You go Li-Li!  Go get your man!”  Louis cheered as Liam got up and walked of after the two.

“Shall we go dance?”  Harry asked Louis who had an expression on his face that Harry couldn’t identify.  ”We don’t have to, I thought it would be fun.”   

“I think you should ask me first.”  Louis said, turning slightly away from Harry.  Harry thought that was asking, but none the less he stood up still holding his boyfriends hand in a firm hold.

“Mr. Tomlinson, would you care to dance with me?” 

“I’ll have to think abut that.” Louis looked up at him with a smirk.  ”Of course I’ll dance with you Harry.” He stood up and gave Harry’s hand a small squeeze.

As they were making there way the the dance floor a small figure with ginger hair appeared in front of them.  Claire (Harry’s ex girlfriend) was wearing a black dress, showing a little too much and covering very little.  Needless to say, she wasn’t exactly dressed for a school dance.

“Hello Harry,” she batted her long lashes at him before noticing his boyfriend. “Louis.”

“Hey Claire.”  Harry said awkwardly.

“I was wondering if you care to dance.” 

“Uh yeah, me and Louis were just going to the dance floor now.”  Harry told her, and he heard Louis beside him chuckle.

“No, silly.”  Claire laughed.  Harry found the high pitched noise annoying and couldn’t remember why he ever thought it was cute.  ”I meant with me.”  she told him as if it made a difference.

“Not really.”  Harry gave her an apologetic look, which was obvious that it was forced.

“Why not?”  Claire suddenly demanded.

Harry looked at Louis who was shooting daggers at the smaller girl.  He gave their hands a reassuring squeeze.  ”Because I’m going to dance with Louis.”  

“That is not the real reason Harry Styles, and you know it.”  Harry looked at her confused for a moment before she began to speak again.  ”Don’t you miss me?  Don’t you miss  _us?_ ”

“Not really.”  Harry told her, before trying to walk around her.  She stepped in front of him, preventing him from going anywhere.

“Listen Claire,” Harry began.  ”desperate doesn’t look good on you.”  

He knew that was a rude thing to say, but she was really starting to get on his nerves now.  All he wanted to do was dance with his boyfriend.

But as soon as he said that, he saw Claire’s face drop and the palm of her hand, before he felt a burning in his cheek.


	8. Chapter Eight

But as soon as he said that, he saw Claire’s face drop and the palm of her hand, before he felt a burning in his cheek.

Automatically his hand went up to touch his cheek, the flesh was warm.  It took Harry awhile to realize that he had been slapped.  If he had been a girl, he wouldn’t have even hesitated to slap her back, maybe even tug at that ginger hair of hers.  But as for right now, he needed to get his boyfriend away from Claire.  Louis looked like he was about to attack the small girl, and Harry did not want Louis to get involved.

Instead, he grabbed his boyfriend by the arm and brushed passed Claire.  The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself and Louis.  Not that he minded if people stared or talked about them, it was better if they knew anyway.  But Louis seemed to want to keep them a secret, and he would do anything for the older boy.

“Harry what are you doing?!”  Louis demanded as he was being dragged away.  He wanted to go back there and give that slut a piece of his mind.  Who did that girl think she was?  Nobody lays a hand on his Harry and gets away with it.

“I am trying to dance with my boyfriend.”  Harry explained as they reached the dance floor.  He turned to face Louis and gave him a smile.  

“I can see that.” Louis just didn’t understand how Harry could ignore what just happened.  Confusion filled his mind, and it didn’t help that Harry was now in front of his dancing like he hadn’t just been bitch slapped.  

“Louis, let it go.”  Harry told him as he tried to get him to dance.  ”Forget about it. Just dance with me, please?”

Louis couldn’t deny his boyfriend, no matter how much he wanted to.  The music changed to a slower paced song and Louis thought it was perfect timing.  He decided to let it go, for now.  

Stepping closer to Harry, Louis smiled and wrapped his arms around  the curly haired boys neck.  Harry settled his hands on Louis waist and danced slowly to the rhythm.  He felt more confident as he felt fingers play with his curls on the back of his neck.  This was their first dance together, and that thought made Harry smile even more.  

“We aren’t even trying to hide it, you know.”  Louis said a few moments later.  The previous songs had all been slow, so their dancing never changed.  

“Sometimes I don’t even know why we hide it.”  Harry put it.

“I don’t either” Louis agreed.  ”But I think it’s for the best.”

Harry left it alone and instead rested his forehead against Louis’.  ”I’m so glad I have you Boo Bear.”  Harry said seriously.  He found out that pet name from Louis’ mother, Jay.  Apparently that’s what she used to call Louis when he was younger.  Harry thought it was cute, and started calling his boyfriend by his old pet name.  

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that.”  Louis said, but he pressed his head closer to Harry’s so that their noses were almost touching.

“Don’t lie, you love it actually.”  Harry said, and Louis only smiled.

If the song didn’t change, Harry was sure he would have snogged Louis right then and there.  Then everybody would have known, and there would be no more hiding.  But the song did change, and Harry didn’t snog Louis’ face off.  

Louis was the first one to back away and dance along with the upbeat music.  Harry laughed as he watched his boyfriend stop the traffic and let the people through.  Harry himself, did his own dance of moving his arms in circles above his head.

Liam and Zayn came over to dance with the two boys a couple moments later.  Harry had wondered if they’ve been on the dance floor the whole time.  He wasn’t really looking for them, so they could have been.  If he were to actually look around he would have seen Niall and Dessie a feet meters away.  

The lights were flicking along with the beat.  The music was so loud, Harry could feel it vibrating in his chest.  He swore it became darker in the room, but his attention wasn’t really focused on the lighting.  The couples all around him were dancing together closely - more like dry humping if you asked Harry.  All the curly haired boy wanted to do was grab his boyfriend and do the same, but he couldn’t.

He did however dance a bit closer to Louis, who smirked at him and moved closer as well.  It wasn’t that obvious, unless you were paying close attention to the couple.  Hopefully not many people were, but you never know who’s eyes could be wondering.  

“Nice dance moves Liam.”  a girl came up and said.  Harry recognized her as the Danielle, she danced with Liam at Louis’ party.  

“Thanks.”  He said briefly then turned away.  Harry felt sorry for her.  She seemed to be interested in Liam and he just cuts her down just like that.  Then again, most of Liam’s focus was on Zayn.  Harry still gave the girl a small smile and she returned it to him before walking off.

“Liam that was rude.”  Harry said dancing up next to his friend.

“What was?”  Liam honestly looked confused, and Harry just rolled his eyes at his friend.  

He turned back around towards Louis, but he wasn’t alone.  He was dancing up against Eleanor.  Not just dancing, grinding, dry humping, sex with clothes, all of the above.  Harry watched as Eleanor wrapped her thin arms around Louis’ neck.  He watched as Louis wrapped his arms around the girls waist.  A mix of emotions overcame Harry, and he just wanted to leave.  

He basically ran off of the dance floor after what he just witnessed.  His head was spinning and he felt like throwing up.  It was just dancing after all, but that’s not how Harry saw it.  Louis was  _his_ , and he goes off dancing with Eleanor like it was perfectly fine to do that.

Harry needed a drink, and something a lot stronger than punch would be really nice right now.  In fact, he knew exactly where to find some.  Or who would have some, more like.  He just had to find them first.  He scanned his eyes a long the crowd before he smiled and headed over to his target.

****

Louis was actually having a fun time at this dance.  His first ever school dance that he enjoyed.  He had the best date in the world, correction best boyfriend in the world.  They somehow still managed to hide their relationship while they were completely obvious.  

Speaking of his boyfriend, Louis had lost Harry sometime during the night.  The last time he saw the curly haired boy, he had been talking to Liam.  Eleanor had came up to him and asked to dance, he couldn’t deny her offer - she had even used the puppy dog face on him.  

As soon as the song was over he accused himself from Eleanor to go find Harry.  Maybe he had gone off to find Niall?  The little Irishman and Harry liked to dance together, so it wouldn’t hurt to look.  No such luck.  He had found Niall, but he was busy dancing with Dessie - they were cute together, Louis had to admit.  He just hoped Niall wouldn’t screw this up, Dessie was a nice girl and he didn’t want to see her get hurt.

Next Louis decided to find and ask Liam, since that was who he had seen Harry last with.  He had found Liam, still on the dance floor and dancing pretty erotically with Zayn.  He hated to interrupt, but he did anyway.

“Liam, do you know here Harry ran off to?”  Louis asked, raising his voice to be heard over the music.

Liam only shrugged before turning back to Zayn.  Well, he friends were no help.  Maybe Harry had gone off to the loo?  Wouldn’t he have told Louis though, even if it was just a ‘be right back’?  Well, Louis was dancing with Eleanor at the time maybe Harry didn’t want to interrupt the two.

Then it hit him.  He stopped dead in his tracks.  Harry must have seen himself and Eleanor dancing.  Why did he even agree to dance with her?  He knew she had a slight thing for him, but they were close friends.  Plus for all she knew he was single still.  Louis did tell Eleanor he had a thing for Harry, maybe she thought things didn’t work out.  He came to the conclusion that it wasn’t Eleanor’s fault, it was his own fault.  He needed to fix this.

As he was pushing himself away from the dance floor, he searched for a mop of brown curly hair.  No suck luck.  Maybe he should try to look in the toilets?  If Harry wasn’t in there, Louis figured he would have left.  No, he couldn’t have left because Louis had drove him there.  He held on to that string of hope.

When he reached the bathroom, he thought he was out of luck.  There were two guys in there washing there hands.  None of the stalls were occupied, so it was basically empty.  Louis was about to give up and turn around before he heard someone mumble something, then a giggle.  

Harry was sat in a corner with a half empty bottle of vodka in his hands.  A small grin was on his face, and he actually looked like he was having the time of his life.  Louis knew that wasn’t true.  First off he was drinking straight vodka from a bottle.  Second he had this look in his eyes, Louis didn’t know what it was but he knew it wasn’t happiness.

He waited for both guys to finish washing his hands before he approached his drunken boyfriend.  Harry seemed happy to see Louis at first, then his face fell.

“Go away.”  He commanded.  Louis almost did too.  That tone of voice was harsh, but Louis had to fix this, and he had to suck it up and be brave.

“You decided to get wasted without me?  Well thats rude.”  Louis tried to joke, hoping it will help the situation.

“Well I certainly don’t want to get drunk with you.  I don’t want anything to do with you actually.”  Apparently it didn’t help.

“Well why not?”  Louis crouched down beside Harry, but Harry scooted away from him.  Having Harry do that, hurt.  But then again he hurt Harry.

“Because you are a bastard.”  

Louis was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say to that.  Well, he could always apologize.  That would be a good start, maybe then Harry would listen to him.

“Harry, I’m sorry.”  Louis explained.

“No your not.  Just go back to Eleanor and fuck her brains out, we both know you want to.”  Harry grumbled as he sent multiple glares at Louis.

“I don’t like El, not in that way.”  Louis tried to explain.  Harry knew he didn’t have any feelings towards Eleanor, they talking about it.  That’s why Louis was having trouble understanding why Harry would act like this.  Then again, he would probably do the same thing seeing Harry dance like that with another girl.

“Yes you do.  So go be with her.”  

“Do you really want me to?”  Louis tried to catch Harry’s eye.

They both were quiet for a moment.  Harry seemed to be thinking while Louis was just waiting for his answer.

“No.” it came out quietly.  

Louis sighed and took the bottle away from Harry, the younger boy didn’t protest.  Harry watched as Louis stood up and poured out the rest of the alcohol.  His eyes continued to follow Louis as he disposed of the empty bottle.  He decided he didn’t want to look at Louis anymore.  So instead he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the cool brick wall.

“Harry you know that you’re the only person I want, right?”  Louis questioned as he looked down at his boyfriend.

Harry made a small noise to answer, apparently he didn’t want to use words to talk to Louis anymore.  Again, Louis didn’t blame him.  He was mad at himself too, but there was nothing he could do but fix it.  That’s exactly what he was trying to do, but he wanted Harryto make an effort to.  Even a small effort would be nice.

Louis sat down next to Harry, and Harry didn’t make any move to tell him not to.  He wished he could go back and decline Eleanor for the dance.  Things would probably be better right now.  But he can’t go back and change the past, whats done is done.

A strand of hair from Harry’s head was misplaced and Louis wanted to fix it.  Under normal situations he wouldn’t have even hesitated to push it back, but he did this time.  He decided to be brave and push it back anyways, Harry let him which was a good sign.  

“I really am sorry Harry.” he said before placing a kiss on Harry’s cheek.

“Take me home.”  Harry told him, opening his eyes.

Louis was surprised at that statement, but none the less stood up.  ”You sure?”  Louis asked.  

“Take me home.”  Harry repeated, and Louis nodded.  He held out a hand to help Harry up, but his boyfriend ignored it and got up on his own.  Louis was ready though, he caught Harry as he stumbled a bit.  Harry didn’t protest, he simply let Louis hold him.  It gave Louis hope that everything would be okay.  They could talk once Harry sobered up, maybe tomorrow if he was lucky.

Not trusting what could happen if he left Harry alone, Louis decided to text the other boys, saying they were leaving early.  Harry let himself be guided out of the bathroom and back to the dance.  They crossed the room quickly, and made it to the doors without anyone saying anything.

“Where did you even get the alcohol?”  Louis asked as he led Harry to his car.

“A friend.” the reply was short, at least it was better than no answer.

“Which friend?” Louis pushed.

“It doesn’t matter.”  

Louis dropped it.  he thought it mattered, but he didn’t want to upset Harry anymore than he had to.  He thought of himself lucky to just be helping Harry  his car.  He really wanted to fix this, he  _needed_  to fix this.

As soon as he made sure Harry was in the car, Louis himself got in.  He hesitated for a second as he got in.  He looked at Harry who had his eyes closed and his head rested against the window.  Louis looked away and started the car.

It was silent on the drive to Harry’s house.  He wasn’t sure if Harry had fallen asleep or if he was just simply resting.  Which was basically the same thing if you think about it.  Thoughts popped into his head on the silent drive.  One thought was, Niall wasn’t going to be happy with them for not sharing the alcohol and for pouring the rest out.  He decided he wouldn’t tell the blonde boy, just in case he did get upset with them.  

When Louis pulled up into Harry’s driveway, he gently shook his shoulder. Confusion spread across Harry’s face before it returned to a blank emotion.  Louis just wished he could read Harry as easily as Harry seemed to read him.  Sometimes he thought he would go mental with thinking about Harry’s emotions.

“Do you need help inside?”  Louis asked as Harry unbuckled the seat belt.  Harry only waved him off.  Louis didn’t know exactly what to do now.  This was the part where he and Harry would share a few kisses and say goodbye.  He didn’t see that happening tonight, so he just looked at Harry.

Harry looked at Louis.  He wanted so desperately to get rid of that sad look on the older boys face.  But Louis had hurt him, even though he didn’t mean to.  So that meant no goodbye kisses tonight.  Harry opened the door and moved to get out of the car.

“Can we talk tomorrow?”  Louis questioned.

Harry looked back at Louis.  His answer was yes, but he didn’t want Louis to have the pleasure in knowing that.  Not yet, he would just surprise him with a call instead.  

“We’ll see.”  Harry said before getting out of the car and stumbling into his house.  Louis watched him walk away and felt horrible for how tonight went.  It wasn’t suppose to turn out this way, not like this.


	9. Chapter Nine

The next few days were pretty tense and awkward for Harry and Louis.  It was their first ‘fight’ and neither of them knew what exactly to say or do.  Harry did call Louis the next day like he planned.  Harry felt like he was to blame as much as Louis was.  The younger boy didn’t have  go and turn to alcohol - that was his mistake.  

They talked it out though, that was the important thing. They were both sober and they needed an understanding on what had happened.  Louis accepted the dance with Eleanor, and Harry saw and thought it meant more than what it actually was. Sure, it would have been better to talk it out face-to-face but calling worked too. 

At school things were even a bit tense. Harry noticed that Louis was quieter recently and he had a worried expression on his face.  That worried expression made Harry question himself.  _What was there to worry about? Everything is fine right, they talked it out and everything was settled.  Unless that dance did mean something and Louis did have a thing for Eleanor._ That last thought caused Harry to shoot daggers at Eleanor with his eyes.

Eleanor didn’t really do anything wrong besides have feeling for Louis.  Harry couldn’t really blame her though.  It was hard not to have feelings for Louis, he was perfect.  Well in Harry’s eyes he was.  Harry knew exactly how it felt to like Louis and know that he couldn’t really be with him.  Now though he did have Louis and they both felt the same way for each other.  Harry was not prepared to let Louis go, not for anything.

Part of Harry was relieved that they had their first fight.  it was over and done with, they could move on. Yes the ‘fight’ was small and a tad stupid, but it still happened.  Their relationship wasn’t damaged much and things were back to normal.  Well, besides Louis quiet behavior recently.  

Louis himself felt bad for the small fight.  Yes, he made the wrong choice and he shouldn’t have danced inappropriately with Eleanor when he was with Harry.  But he was only human, and whats done is done.  He can’t go back and change things.

He wanted to put the blame on someone else.  Harry wasn’t to blame, he was the victim but  did get worked up over a  _dance_  he and Eleanor shared.  Eleanor wasn’t to blame either. She didn’t know he and Harry were in a relationship but she did however know that they went to the dance together.  Louis knew this was his fault, he could have avoided it if he and Harry were ‘out’. But that can’t happen, not right now.

“Louis.”  a voice said from beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Louis was in free period and apparently he zoned out, deep in thought. He was sat at his normal table in the back of the room with Zayn, Harry, and Liam.  Usually he would sit next to Harry, but today he decided to sit opposite of Harry next to Zayn.  Believe it or not, Harry could be distracting and Louis really needed to focus on his work.  

“Louis!”  Zayn said again, louder this time.  

“What?”  he asked looking up at his friend.  

“Were you even listening?”  a puzzled look appeared on his black haired friends face.

“No, I was thinking.  Sorry.”  

Louis looked around the table at his friends. Liam and Harry both were looking at him with confusion on their faces.  

“You alright mate?”  Liam asked, his expression changing from confusion to worry,

“I’m fine LiLi.” Louis assured.

“You sure?” Liam pressed further. 

Louis nodded with his answer. “So what were you saying then?”  he wondered trying to change the topic.  

“Well I was asking if we were meeting at mine after school?  Hazza has the day off.”  Liam repeated the earlier conversation Louis wasn’t paying attention to.

“I-” Louis was about to decline, but then thought otherwise when an idea popped into his head.  ”Could we meet up at mine instead?”

“But won’t your mum and sisters be there?”  Zayn asked.

“Not until after four.”  Louis told him.  

“But why your house?”  Liam asked looking at Louis with a confused expression again.  ”Is there something wrong with mine?”

Louis shook his head at Liam.  Then he looked at his boyfriend.  Harry had an unreadable expression on his face, and Louis wish he knew what he was thinking.  He hated how he still couldn’t read Harry, when Harry could read him so easily.  

“I want to tell you guys something, and I want my family to be there as well.”  Harry’s eyes widened a bit, and giving Louis a look to say ‘are you sure?’  Harry thought he knew exactly what Louis wanted to tell their friends and family.  He was all for it, he didn’t have a problem with letting everyone know they were together.  That is, if that was what Louis wanted to do.

“Are you ill Louis?”  Liam asked concerned.

“No LiLi, I’m fine.”  Louis smiled at his friend. “I’m more than fine actually.”

“Alright if you insist.  You know we’ll always be here for you, no matter what.”  Zayn assured him and Liam nodded in agreement.

“Good.”  Louis said a smile gracing his lips.  ”That’s what I’m hoping for.”  He didn’t miss the look his two friends shared with one another.  He felt like it was time he and Harry came out.  Well to their friends and family.  They couldn’t come out to the public, not yet.

The bell rang and the four boys collected their things.  Zayn headed off to his next class while Liam, Louis and Harry walked together towards their chemistry class.  When they sat down, Harry took Niall’s seat and sat next to Louis.  He gave his boyfriends hand a reassuring squeeze under the lab table.  Louis knew from that point that everything was going to be okay.  Or so he hoped.

****

So the five boys found themselves at the Tomlinson household after school.  Both Harry and Niall were of course the last to show up.  Harry had to shower and tell his mum that he had something to talk to her about later tonight.  Louis agreed to go over to Harry’s house afterward to tell her a well.

Harry knew his mum wouldn’t really mind his relationship with Louis.  As Harry was happy, she was happy for the most part.  Of course she cared about her baby, but she wasn’t  _too_  strict of a parent.  Anne knew Harry had been with guys before but he’d never been in an actual relationship with one, it was mostly experimenting and goofing around.  

“I’m hungry”  Niall blurted out randomly, causing Harry to smile.

“You’re always hungry Niall.”  Liam mumbled.

Niall decided to ignore that comment, “I say we have Nandos.”

Harry honestly couldn’t think of eating anything at that time, he was too anxious about tonight.  Louis was also feeling a bit anxious, he had no idea how tonight would turn out.  His mum had never talked about same sex relationships and he was nervous to find out.  Whatever the outcome was, he promised himself he would not lose Harry.

“Aren’t you taking Dessie out to a nice restaurant tonight Nialler?”  Zayn asked.

“Yes I am.  Our first date as a couple.”  Niall grinned.  Harry was happy for his friend.  Dessie seemed like a nice girl, and he hoped Niall didn’t ruin this.  In Harry’s opinion, Dessie deserved the best. 

“Congrats man!”  Harry clapped Niall on the back.  ”So it’s official huh?”

“Yep.  Asked her after the dance.”  the grin on Niall’s face grew bigger and Harry swore he saw pride in the Irishman’s face.

“And I’m just now hearing about this?”  Harry joked.  It had almost been a week since the dance and Niall didn’t tell him.  A part of him felt bad for hiding things from his friends.  Maybe this is how they felt, hurt and like they weren’t important enough to know.

“Well you’ve been distracted lately.”  Niall muttered.  Harry couldn’t exactly hear what Niall had muttered, but Liam and Zayn both had and they had smirks on their faces.

“What was that?”

“I said, you’ve been distant lately.”  Niall told him.  Liam and Zayn nodded their heads.

“I still would have liked to know, Niall.”  Harry said creasing his eyebrows and crossing his arms over his chest.  ”I thought we told each other everything.”

Harry remembered when he and Liam befriended Niall when he moved here from Ireland four years ago.  Niall was Harry’s closest friend, at times closer than he and Liam were.  That’s saying something, Harry and Liam had been friends since they were young.  But now Harry felt like he and Niall were slipping away and he didn’t like it, not one bit.

“Well you don’t tell me everything anymore Harry!”  Niall exclaimed.

Harry shook his head disbelievingly at is friend.  Did Niall know about his and Louis’ relationship?  Well the two weren’t being exactly secretive, so it was possible.  Besides, the truth was going to be revealed soon enough.  

“Niall sometimes I can’t tell you everything.”  Harry said lowering his voice.

“Yeah, well same goes for me.”  Niall told him in the same exact tone.

“Liam and Zayn both knew!”  Harry declared, his voice rising again.

“Come off it Harry.  Liam know everything, and you know he tells Zayn basically everything he knows.  That shouldn’t come as a big surprise.”

“That’s not-” Harry started before Louis interrupted.

“Harry that’s enough.  Calm down.”  his boyfriends hand came to rest on his shoulder.

It was quiet for a while after that mini argument.  Nobody really knew what to say or how to break the ice.  Both Liam and Zayn looked at each other having a secret conversation with their eyes.  Only they knew how the conversation was going.  Niall turned his focus on is phone - tuning out the rest of the boys. 

Louis was looking at Harry carefully, trying to settle him down.  The hand on Harry’s shoulder was gently massaging the tense muscle.  Harry felt himself become more relaxed feeling Louis’ presence.  When he glanced up at Louis, the older boy gave him an expecting look.  Harry sighed before looking at Niall who was still focused on his phone.

“Niall?” Harry began cautiously.  

The blonde looked up at Harry with questioning eyes.  They weren’t exactly angry, but they weren’t the loving blue hey usually were.  

“I’m sorry.  I’ve been a bit out of sorts lately.”  Harry confessed.

“I know.”  Liam nudged Niall in the side.  ”I mean I’m sorry too.”

“How about I make it up to you?”  Harry suggested.  

Niall looked at Harry hopefully.  ”Nandos?”

Harry nodded and within a blink of an eye, Niall shot up from the couch and threw himself at Harry in a hug.  Harry didn’t mind, if buying Niall food was all it took to be forgiven, then he would take it.

****

By the time Jay and the girls got home, Harry had bought everyone Nandos and all five boys were sitting at the kitchen table eating away.  Harry had barely touched his chicken, but Niall was happy enough to eat it for him.  

Harry and Louis decided to tell the boys soon after Harry and Niall’s mini fight.  The three boys took it quite well, and didn’t even seem surprised by the fact two of their best mates were together.  They told Harry and Louis they would support them through anything, and would be behind them 100%, no pun intend.  Sure they were a little upset about being kept in the dark for so long, but they were happy none the less.

When Louis’ four hyperactive younger sisters came home, Zayn and Niall took them into another part of the house.  They were going to distract them while Louis, Harry, and Liam had a chat with Jay.  Of course as soon as Niall and Zayn took the girls out, Niall appeared not wanting to leave their unfinished food behind.

Jay looked worried at the three teenage boys as they sat her down at the kitchen table.  She didn’t really know what to expect, and her first thought that one of them was ill or injured.  Always jumping to the worst case scenario, bad habit of hers.

Louis just came right out and said it.  ”Mum, Harry and I are together.  Like as a couple.”  He thought it would be easier that way, just lay it all on the table.  

Harry was worried about Jay’s reaction.  She didn’t exactly say anything for awhile, she just sat there with a hand on her chin looking lost in thought.  But she sighed and looked between Harry and Louis.  

“Are you two happy together?”  Both boys nodded, small smiles appearing on their faces. “This is what you both want, you aren’t being pressured into this?”  Harry told her that they had been together for a little over a month now, and they decided it was time to tell their families and close friends.

In the end, Jay seemed okay with it.  She told them as long as they were happy, she was happy.  She would support them and honor their wishes, basically the same thing Niall, Zayn, and Liam had said.  Harry felt much better after telling Jay the truth.  

Soon after the conversation, Niall had to leave for his date with Dessie.  Liam and Zayn both left with Niall to take him home, and decided to let Louis and Harry have some time alone together.  

Harry and Louis had found themselves up in Louis room talking about the events of what happened previously.  

“That turned out much better than I expected.”  Louis said, a small laugh escaping his mouth.

“When do you think we’ll become officially public?”  Harry wondered.

“I don’t know Harry.”  Louis told him honestly.  ”Not for awhile at least.”

Harry looked at Louis and shook his head slowly.  ”I just don’t understand why we are hiding it!  Come on Lou, our family knows, our close friends know, I just don’t understand why we still have to hide it!”

“I just think it’s for the best.”  Louis answered.  That was always his answer.

“You keep saying that!”  Harry’s brushed his curls out of his eyes in frustration.  Today just seemed like the day everyone wanted to argue with him.  ”Its the best for who?”

Louis’ face was blank.  It upset Harry even more not being able to read his boyfriends face.  Blue eyes flickered to his, and Louis gave him a one shoulder shrug.  Why was he being so difficult.

“Louis talk to me, please.”  he begged.

“I’m just afraid of what people might say.”

“Why?”  Harry wanted to understand, but he was finding it hard to.  ”You never care what people think, why start caring now?”

“Because Harry!”  Louis finally snapped.  Harry thought they were finally getting somewhere. “People know me, they expect things from me, and they already made their opinions of me.  If I just come out with you out of the blue, those opinions will change.”

“I’m still not understanding”  Harry looked at the older boy and tried to understand it point of view on this.

“Harry you are the first guy that I have liked.  I don’t know what to say to people. Am I gay?  Am I bi sexual? Because honestly, I don’t have thoughts about any other guys besides you.  Actually, I don’t feel attracted to  _anyone_  besides you. When we come out, people will want to know these things.  I don’t have answers for them.”

Harry understood now.  Louis was afraid, he was actually afraid of what people thought about him.  Harry felt relief, for a moment he had let himself believe that Louis was ashamed of him.  Just thinking that almost tore him apart.

“Louis, you don’t have to answer to anybody.”  Harry tried to explain, tried to make Louis see sense.  

“I want answers for myself more than anything.”  Louis said quietly, looking down at his lap.

“How about this.”  Harry said getting up and walking towards Louis.  ”How about we just say that you’re gay for me, and me only.”  He settled himself down on Louis’ lap and placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Louis looked up unsure at Harry, but gave him a small smile.  ”I guess that works.”

“I don’t think most people would be shocked anyways, your whole personality screams ‘gay’”  Harry chuckled.

Louis snapped his head up to face Harry, before pushing him off of him.  ”That’s it, no Louis Lovin’ for you.”  He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

“Boo Bear, I’m only stating the truth.”  Harry tried, sitting beside Louis and placing kisses on his neck and jaw.

“Don’t call me that.”  Louis said, but he didn’t push Harry away again.  

Harry took that opportunity to lean Louis back on the bed as he pressed more kisses against his neck.  Soon those kisses became more hurried and sloppy, as Harry tried to devour his boyfriends neck.

Louis closed is eyes and tilted his head, letting Harry have more access to his neck.  He vaguely registered Harry climbing on top of him and straddling him on the bed.  Louis hands got the chance to travel up his sides, under his shirt before Harry pulled away. 

“Louis your sisters are in the other room and your mum is downstairs.” Harry told him as if he forgotten.  

“So?”  Louis pulled Harry down by his neck and kissed him slowly. Harry allowed it before pulling away once more.

“Louis, no.”  Harry told him, climbing off of him.

“First you try to seduce me, then when I finally give in, you say no?”

“Louis, what if someone walks in on us?”  

“Then they would see you making me very, very happy.”  the older boy said with a smirk.  ”I’m sure they’d be fine with it, Curly.  They know we are together anyways.”   

“I don’t want to take any risks.”  

Louis groaned, leaning back against the bed.  ”Harry Styles, do you know how much you aggravate me?”

“Yes I do.”  Louis sense the smirk Harry had by his tone of voice.  ”Come on Lou, get up.”  Harry slapped Louis’ thigh playfully.

“Why should I?” 

“Well we’re going to tell my mum about us now, right?”  Harry asked making sure Louis was still coming with him to ell his mum.

“I almost forgot.”  Louis got up from the bed slowly and walked over to his mirror hanging on his wall.  ”Jesus Harry!” 

“What?”  Harry walked over towards Louis.

“Look at my neck!”  Louis neck had random red marks, and some were faintly turning purple.  ”You’re mum will know what we were doing.  Fuck,  _my_  mum will know what we’ve been doing.”

Harry laughed at his boyfriend.  ”First off, we weren’t doing anything.”  Harry walked over to the closet before returning to Louis.  ”Secondly, wear this scarf.  It’ll cover it up.”

“Now I have to change my whole outfit now.”  Louis complained, stripping off his clothes.  

“I’ll be more careful next time.”  Harry promised.

Louis only laughed.  Harry watched Louis as he changed out of his clothes and put on a new outfit.  ”Maybe you should take a picture, it would last longer.”  Louis said smiling at Harry.

“But then I would be constantly looking at that photo and I wouldn’t be able to help myself from pulling it out in public.  That would cause some questions.”  

“Good point.”  Louis said, fixing his hair now.

“Louis, you look fine.  Lets just go.”  Harry urged, walking towards the door.

“Anxious are we?”  Louis asked following him.  

“Just a bit.”  Harry admitted.

Louis called out a quick goodbye to his mum before headed out the door with Harry.  Harry decided to drive, then figured he would drop Louis back off.  That made the most sense.  On the drive there thoughts popped into the curly haired boys head.  He hoped his mum would be okay with their relationship.  She would be accepting, wouldn’t she.  She wouldn’t be disgusted and kick him out of the house would she?  She wasn’t like that, but what if she did?  

Louis seemed to sense Harry’s distress and reached out to hold his hand.  ”It’ll be fine, Harry.”  he assured the younger boy.

“I know.”  Harry nodded his head.  Everything would be fine, he was overreacting.  Louis was right, Louis was always right.  Harry should listen to him more often.  

The boys pulled up into Harry’s driveway.  Harry was more nervous than ever before now.  He didn’t understand why he was so nervous.  Well he wanted his mum’s approval for one.  Louis was his first  _real_ relationship with anyone, boy or girl.  Anyone would be nervous, right?

“Are you ready?”  Louis asked, watching Harry stare at the house in front of them. 

Harry nodded and turned off his car, “Kiss for luck?”

Louis smiled at his boyfriends nervousness.  But he gave in and gave Harry a reassuring kiss.  ”It will be fine Harry, you are worrying too much.”  Harry nodded.  He knew he was, he was being silly.  

The boys got out of the car and headed into the house.  As long as he had Louis by his side, everything would be fine.


	10. Chapter Ten

Telling Harry’s mum went surprisingly well. It wasn’t really ‘surprising’, but it did go rather well. Anne was more excited than anything. She was only upset at the boys because they had hid their relationship for so long.

As soon as Anne found out about the relationship, she called Harry’s older sister. Gemma was just as excited as Harry’s mum was. She hadn’t got to meet Louis officially yet, but that would change soon. Christmas was near, as well as Louis birthday.

So telling the parents went great, as well as telling the boys. Harry and Louis were back to normal, the fight forgotten about. Well, as normal as any couple in hiding were. But Harry now knew why Louis wanted them to be a secret, he felt better knowing. All in all, it was a pretty well achieved day for Harry.

The next day when Harry arrived at school with Niall, Louis showed up out of nowhere. Niall gave them a look to say ‘oh, just go away’ and so they did. Harry walked with Louis to his locker, it wasn’t the first time, but it wasn’t common either.

“Do you have to work tonight?” Louis asked as he grabbed his things.

“Yes, and the rest of the week.” It’s not that Harry didn’t like his his job, because he did; he just wished that he spent more time with Louis. They spent most of their time together now days, it was kind of ridiculous how much they were together. But neither boy could get enough of the other.

“But I have this weekend off.” Harry informed the older boy.

“Oh really? A whole two days off.” Louis joked, shutting his locker.

“Yes, its a miracle!” he exclaimed, playing along with Louis.

“Then I say we celebrate by doing something special.” Louis put an arm around Harry’s shoulder as they walked to their first class. Yep, not obvious at all.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Bowling!”

“We celebrate by bowling?”

“Yes. Did you have something else in mind, Curly?” Louis raised a qestioning eyebrow.

“Well I might have…”Harry trailed off, a smile appearing on his lips.

“Go on then, spit it out.”

“No, no. Bowling it is.” The boys made their way to their seats as they entered the classroom. Louis looked like he wanted to press further with the conversation, but he let it go.

Niall plopped in his seat next to Harry, “So we bowling this weekend?”

Harry looked at Louis who looked confused. His attention turned back to Niall. How did Niall know? They literally just dicussed this, just figured out what they were doing. Unless Louis had it planned before hand? But Louis look just as confused as Harry felt.

“You two aren’t that quiet.” Niall told them. Were they really that loud in the hall? Harry started to worry, what if they were always loud? What if someone overheard them at one point?

Niall started laughing and Harry’s attention focused towards his friend. “I’m only joking, Haz.” Harry felt himself relax slightly. “I was walking behind you two.”

“How did we not notice you?” Louis asked completely bewildered.

“Because I’m a ninja.” Niall laughed while Harry and Louis both started at him in confusion.

“Is Niall on pills?” Louis whispered to Harry.

“No idea. But if I were to guess, I would say yes.”

“I can hear you.” Niall pointed out.

“Ears like a bat, I swear.” Louis mumbled. Harry laughed at his boyfriend, but covered it with a cough when he saw the look Niall gave him.

“You both are just jealous of my good hearing sense.”

“Yeah Niall, that’s it.” Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend.

“So bowling, yeah?” Niall reffered back to the previous topic.

“I guess so.” Harry shrugged.

“Mind if I bring Dessie? That way it’ll be even.”

“Yes! Bring that short stuff.” Louis said with a grin. Harry and Niall both gave weird looked. “What? I like Dessie, okay?”

“Excuse me?” Harry asked.

“Wait, what?” Niall said at the same time.

“Relax, she’s fun to hang around with. I mean I like her as a friend.” Louis explained, but Harry still narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. “Oh come on Curly. You know you’re the only one for me.” Louis put a hand on his heart and fluttered his eyes dramatically.

“Stop with the flirting.” Zayn said, sitting down next to Louis. Liam followed shortly after and took his seat behind Zayn. “It’s bad enough already, now we know you’re a couple, it makes it worse.”

Louis leaned close to Zayn and whispered, “You’re just jealous because you can’t flirt with Liam.” Zayn then gave Louis an unexpected look, but none the less, he closed his mouth and turned to face the front of the classroom.

“Ooh, I wouldn’t want to mess with you.” Harry leaned forward and whispered into Louis’ ear.  Louis only turned around and smirked at him. But it’s okay, at that moment Mr. Boyd came into the classroom.

Class began and Harry folded his arms across his desk. Soon his head was beginning to rest on top of his arms. Mr. Boyd began to talk about the new topic they were learning. Harry could care less, he found English dull.

Apparently the new topic they were learning was sonnets. Fourteen lines, ten syllables in each line. They even had a rhyming scheme that Harry didn’t remember. Louis of course found them fun, as did Zayn. Harry couldn’t understand his friends sometimes.

A hand was placed on Harry’s shoulder, and it shook him gently. He first thought it was Louis, but when he looked up all he saw was the back of Louis’ head. He looked around and found Liam staring at him with a blank look on his face. “Are you okay, Haz?” he asked gently.

Harry nodded. He was just tired, waking up late can do that.

“Are you getting enough sleep?” his friend asked.

Harry shrugged. He usually got seven or eight hours of sleep each night.

“Are you under a lot of stress right now?” Liam questioned. Well kinda, Harry was under  _some_  stress. Not too much though, typical teenage problems.

“Liam, should I have a lawyer present?” Harry was beginning to feel like he was being interrogated.

“Sorry.” Liam backed down. He gave Harry an apologetic smile and turned around in his seat.

Sure sometimes Liam’s father-like behavior annoyed him from time to time. But then again, Harry liked knowing Liam cared about him. He could always count on Liam being there for him, even if it was the smallest and stupidest thing, Liam would always be there. Harry was  _very_  thankful for his friend.

Halfway through the class, Mr. Boyd had the class split up into groups of two to three. He wanted the class to write a sonnet and then they were to present it. Liam picked Zayn as a partner, Zayn was excellent at English. (that was Liam’s excuse anyways) Louis had decided he and Harry were to work together, Harry was fine with it of course. Niall had decided to join Harry and Louis, thinking Liam and Zayn would come up with a sappy, romantic sonnet, while Louis and Harry’s would be more comical.

Niall turned out to be correct on his assumptions. Liam and Zayn’s sonnet was really sappy. Harry swore he even saw a few tears shed from a couple of people. Harry, Louis, and Niall’s sonnet was more of a laugh, or at least their classmates thought so. Mr. Boyd said they did it wrong, but Harry saw his teacher hide a smile as they presented.

Later, during free period, Harry had brought up the topic of their relationship to Louis. Of course he thought about what he wanted to say, but the question had been on his mind all day and he just wanted to spit it out. He wasn’t exactly sure how Louis was going to act, so he was slightly hesitant with asking.

“Louis?” Harry began cautiously. Louis looked up from his work and gave Harry a questioning look. “How does your father feel about us?”

Louis looked at him blankly before giving a one shouldered shrug. “I don’t know.” the older boy seemed to be think for awhile before speaking again. “I don’t talk to him much; ever since he and my mum split. But from what I remember, he wouldn’t have a problem with it - with us.”

“How do you know?” Harry wondered.

“I don’t.” It was a simple answer. “But, I remember my dad being the nonjudgmental type. When I was younger, we were really close. So I’m thinking he’ll understand out feelings.”

Harry nodded. He was seen pictures of Louis and his dad around Louis’ house. They did look really happy together, it made Harry slightly jealous. “Why don’t you ever speak to your father? You said you were close..?”

“I wish I knew.” Louis had a lost look on his face. After some time he seemed to snap out of his daze and his eyes looked into Harry’s green ones. “What about your dad?”

The younger boy didn’t expect that, he should have, but he didn’t. “My father died when I was young.” Harry told him simply before turning his focus on the papers on the table in front of him. Harry had never known his father, so questions about him made Harry slightly uncomfortable.

That was that. They didn’t discuss any further about their fathers. It was an iffy subject, and made both boys uncomfortable. The subject should probably be avoided, which was easy enough to do.

****

A couple of days later, the day before they went bowling, Harry found himself in chemistry class. Harry decided he liked this class, and not just because Louis was in it. He has always liked science, even if he didn’t fully understand the subject. To be honest, he only liked doing the experiments and labs. It also might be a benefit that a lot of Harry’s friends were in his class.

Today was a lab day, they were going to be making slime. Harry was excited for it. [One minor, or major, problem Harry figured, was Liam wasn’t at school.]

Harry didn’t mind too much, it’s not like the  _needed_ Liam. Okay, that was a complete lie. But making slime was easy, or so Mrs. Hill had said.

Niall had sent Harry to get the ingredients: water, white glue, borax, a mixing spoon, two bowls, and food coloring. Niall had specifically told Harry to get green food coloring. Instead Harry planned to get orange, because he liked orange, and wanted to make orange slime.

While he was up getting the ingredients, he ran into his friend Abby.

“Oh. Hi Harry.” she said friendly as she looked around at the food coloring.

“Hey Abby. Excited to be making slime?” he said trying to make conversation.

“Actually I-” she stopped speaking as she looked at Harry. “Whoa, were you attacked?”

Harry started at her confusedly before she pointed to his neck, that’s when he remembered.

The night before, he had gotten off of work early and stopped by Louis’ house before he went home. He didn’t think Louis left a mark after their previous activities. Why hadn’t anyone said anything? Louis was probably fully of pride. Niall and Zayn either didn’t see it, or didn’t bring it up.

“Uh, something like that.” Harry said, letting his hand fall from his neck.

“Who was she? A vampire?”

“I never said it was a girl.” Harry muttered. Apparently Abby had heard him and her face began to redden.

“I thought those were just rumors. I didn’t think you went both ways.” Harry shrugged. He didn’t really label himself as gay, or bi, or anything. He just thought that if he was attracted to someone, then he was attracted to them. Simple as that.

Louis suddenly popped up next to Harry. “Niall told me to come over and help you.” Louis told Harry, taking some of the things they needed off of the front counter. That was a lie. Louis saw Abby talking to Harry, and he just got a bit curious. He had nothing to do with the fact that Louis didn’t like Abby. Or the fact he knew the girl fancied his boyfriend. Nope, it was simply curiosity that brought hm over.

“Did you see, a vampire bit Harry.” Abby stated as she gestured towards the hickey on Harry’s neck.

“Yeah.” Louis nodded. “I gave him that.” Louis smiled. Harry’s eyes grew wide as he looked at Louis. What was the his boyfriend doing?

After awhile, Abby laughed. She swatted Louis’ arm gently. “You’re always the joker.”

“Yes he is.” Harry chuckled, not out of amusement. He was so confused. First Louis wanted them to hide, now we was telling people he gave Harry a love bite? Yeah, Harry had no idea what was going through his boyfriends head.

“Well I guess I should get back to my group.” Abby said, picking a blue color dye. “Have fun with your slime.” she told the boys as she walked off. Harry smiled after her before turning around towards Louis. The smile on the older boys face fell as he saw Harry’s expression.

“Why the hell did you do that?” Harry demanded as he turned around to grab two bowls and a mixing spoon. Well maybe Liam was smart not to come today, he had a weird fear of spoons. Harry then quickly tried to gather up the rest of the things they needed for the lab. “I thought you didn’t want people to know.” he continued.

“I thought you didn’t have a problem with people knowing.” Louis retorted. He looked confused, and slightly hurt. That was true, Harry didn’t have a problem knowing, he at no problem at all.

“I don’t have a problem Lou.” Harry sighed, trying to get rid of his frustration.  ”I just don’t understand.” He glanced quickly at his boyfriend and lowered his voice.  ”First you want to hide our relationship, now you are going around telling people bluntly about us.”  

Louis trailed behind Harry, and took some things from his arms, helping him carry the supplies. “I’m not ready yet. I just was curious to how people would react. Anyway, you’re blonde friend won’t tell anybody anything, and I knew that. At least I didn’t make an impulse decision.”

“Whatever.” Harry dropped the conversation and walked back towards the lab table.  

“I’m sorry.” Louis came up beside Harry. “There’s something about that girl I don’t like.”

“Abby?  She’s harmless.”

“So you think, it’s always the nice, preppy, friendly girls you have to look out for.” Louis told him, secretly narrowing his eyes at Abby from across the room.

“Just like Eleanor.” Louis didn’t expect that.  

“What?” 

“Nothing.” Harry smiled. As soon as they reached the table, they set everything out. Niall began sorting through the ingredients, making sure they had everything. Louis took the seat next to Niall, and Harry sat across from Louis.  Both boys watched as Niall took on the role of Liam, it was quiet scary to be honest. Niall looked so focus, like he was on a mission. 

Harry’s eyes looked at Louis, then they trailed towards Abby. Did Louis have the same thoughts about Abby as Harry had about Eleanor? If so, Harry could understand where Louis was coming from. Even seeing Eleanor around Louis made him on edge - he knew nothing was going to happen, but he could never be  _too_ careful.

“Hey! I told you to get green food coloring!” Niall exclaimed.  Harry couldn’t help but smile at his sneaky tactics, and his smile grew larger as he heard Louis chuckled at Niall’s protest.

“I wanted orange.” Harry told him as if it were obvious.  

“Bastard.  I wanted green.”  Niall rolled his eyes before he started to mix the borax and the water together.  ”Never mind, just start combining the glue and water while I stir this.”  Harry noticed Niall taking sly glances at the instructions paper, he was failing at trying to be smart like Liam, it was cute to watch though.

None the less, Harry did as he was told.  It really only took a short amount of time to make the slime.  Just some mixing and stirring was all it took, it was quiet simple, they didn’t need Liam.  Niall was a good replacement though, a tad more bossy, but he was trying to achieve Liam’s standards, which were hard to reach.

When the slime was done, the three boys decided to split it up equally into three divisions.  Harry put his portion of the slime into a plastic baggie, wanting to keep it safe.  Niall and Louis had other ideas for it so it seemed.  But all the fun came to an end when Niall accidently got orange slime in Louis’ hair.  Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen Louis’ in such a rage before.  Harry couldn’t help but feel a little bit turned on at the sight, which was amusing to watch - yet terrifying.

****

It was a small bowling alley, only nine lanes.  All five boys plus Dessie took up the first two lanes and separated into two teams.  Niall, Dessie, and Zayn were on one team while Harry, Louis, and Liam were on the other.  

Harry wasn’t exactly a good bowler, to be honest he sucked.  But it was okay, Harry only wanted to have fun.. Louis was an excellent bowler, and then there was Liam, who was good at every thing he did.  Zayn was also an excellent bowler - apparently he and Louis used to bowl a lot, they were even on a team.  Niall was an okay bowler, but he was very competitive.  That left Harry and Dessie, the odd ones out.

“You aren’t a good bowler either?”  Harry asked Dessie as she sat own to put on her bowling shoes.  The brunette gave him a confused look before smiling.

“Well honestly I’ve only been bowling once.”  

“See, you could be a good bowler.  I just naturally suck.”  Harry commented, trying to make the girl feel better about her bowling skills.

“Oh, I know.  Niall told me about you and Louis.”  Harry didn’t know exactly what that meant until he remembered what he had said.  Bad choice of words on his part.  ”Come on, I bet you aren’t  _that_  bad.”  Dessie assured him, redirecting the topic back to bowling.

“I guess you’ve never seen me bowl.”  

“There is always room for improvement.”  Dessie smiled at him.  

“You are so wise.”  Harry stood up, trying to get used to the feel of the shoes he just put on.

“Yes I am.”  she seemed confident, but not conceited. “Well let the best team win.”  she stood up and extended her hand out to Harry.

Harry accepted her hand.

“Hey! You better not have gave your rotten skills to my girl.”  Niall appeared next to Dessie, looking at their hands.

“I could say the same to you.”  Louis told the Irishman, popping up beside Harry.  ”No offense.”  He told Dessie.

“I’m not a girl!”  Harry quipped.

At the same time Dessie began to reply to Louis.  ”None taken.”  She sent Louis a smile, as everybody else ignored Harry.  ”All  I was doing was giving him luck anyways.  He needs it.”

“Feisty, I like it.”  Louis observed.  Harry narrowed his eyes at the people in front of him.  Louis was going to agree with her?  Why didn’t he stick up for Harry?  Sure they were just joking arround, Harry knew that.  It still would have been nice if Louis made a simple comment to support him.   _‘Harry’s not that bad.’_  would have been nice, even if Harry hoped for  _‘Don’t be rude to my boyfriend’._ Harry laughed silently to himself for thinking of such sappy thoughts.  

Harry rolled his eyes before walking away towards Liam.  As he walked away, Louis could have sworn he heard Harry mumble “I can be feisty too.”  But the older boy didn’t understand his boyfriend’s actions.

“Someone has an attitude.”  Niall commented, looking at Harry’s retreating back. 

“He’s been acting strange lately.”  Louis thought aloud.  It was true, these past few days Harry seemed off and Louis didn’t understand why.  Harry didn’t talk to him as he usually would when something was bothering him.

“Maybe he’s on his period.”  Niall suggested.  ”You know how Zayn acts certain times of the month.”  Niall was trying to lighten the mood, but only Dessie laughed.  Louis instead turned around to look at Harry.  He couldn’t help but think Harry’s actions were somehow his fault, but he didn’t understand why.  Louis should go talk to Harry, but he decided he would do that later, after Harry settled down.

“What’s wrong with Harry?”  Zayn questioned appearing next to Louis, who didn’t even notice Zayn coming towards them.

“Honesty, I don’t know.  We were all joking around like normal then Harry just walked off with all his sass in tow.”  Louis looked at Niall, puzzled.  ”Oh, come on!”  You know it’s true.  Did you not see all that sass he had?”

Louis rolled his eyes at Niall.

“Well Liam is upset and thinks you lot are bullying him.”  Zayn sighed and glanced behind him at Liam.

“Bullying?”  Louis repeated.  Zayn nodded in response.

“Yeah we were.”  Niall began.  ”We were just about to shove him in a trash bin.  Too bad he walked off, we never got the chance.”  

Dessie started laughing like a mad person, but it was cute.  Louis couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his face, and neither could Zayn.

“Come on, Liam’s becoming frustrated.”  Zayn told them before walking off towards Harry and Liam. 

Louis followed and casually sat down next to Harry.  The older boy put his arm over the back of the chairs, around Harry’s shoulders.  Harry moved away from his touch, and Louis felt hurt.

Instead of showing it, he casually acted like it didn’t affect him even though it did.  ”Did you already put our names in?”  he asked Liam who was now sitting at the controls.

“Yes.”  Liam told him pointing up at the screen to show him the names.  ”Why?”

“Darn, I wanted my name to be something else.”  Louis pouted as he looked at the names. Liam was to go first, then himself, and Harry last.  On the other screen, Niall’s name was first, then Dessie’s, then Zayn’s.

“What? I thought you liked the name ‘Lou’.”  Liam frowned.

“I do.”  Louis let out a sigh.  ”But I wanted to be  _Superman!_ ” He bellowed.

Heads nearby turned to look at Louis, and the boys all laughed at Louis - thinking of the inside joke.  Harry included, laughed into Louis’ shoulder, and Louis smiled at his boyfriends laughter.  It seemed like whatever upset Harry was gone now, well for now at least.

“I’m not changing it, so too bad.”  Liam finally spoke after he stopped laughing - his eyes still shown with amusement.

“But LiLi, why not?”

“I already put the names in.  You aren’t special, so I’m not changing it.”

“My mum tells me I’m special.”  Louis said.  ”I think you are just jealous I’m a superhero.”

“Yes, thats it.”  Liam drawled.

“I knew it! Can you believe him Curly?”  Louis looked at Harry.  

“I am shocked.  How could anybody refuse to do what you say!” sarcasm was evident in the curly haired boy’s voice.

“I know!  Who does he think he is?”

“Liam Payne.”  Harry said bluntly.

“Let’s just bowl.”  Louis said as he waved him off.

“Finally!”  Zayn shot his arms up in the air.  He made it seem like he’d be waiting all day, it was amusing to see.

“Oh Zayny, settle down.  You are only going to end up losing anyways.”

“I only play the game to have fun, Lou.”  Zayn told his best friend.

“Same here mate.”  Harry expressed, giving Zayn a knowing look.

“Oh Harry, we all know the only reason you say that is because you suck at bowling.”  Niall grinned as Harry stood up and slapped him over the head.  Louis didn’t realize when Niall and Dessie came to sit on the other side of Harry, but there they were, plain as day.

“Not true.” Harry mumbled and hit Niall once more.

“Oi! Silence the violence!”  Louis commanded, as he grabbed Harry by the arms and held his back away from Niall.  When Harry relaxed against Louis, the older boy refused to let go. Instead he just held on to his boyfriend, and snaked his arms around Harry’s slender torso, as he settled his chin down on Harry’s shoulder.

While his friends were arguing and messing about, Liam took it upon himself to go ahead and start bowling.  He was after all ‘player one’.  Only after the ball ball rolled down the lane and crashed into the pins, did his friends attention snapped up and focused on him.

“How did I miss that?”  Zayn asked looking at the screen to see how many pins Liam knocked over.  The screen flashed a big ‘X’ and the words ‘STRIKE’ appeared on the screen above.

“It’s on LiLi!”  Niall declared as he marched up and grabbed his ball from the rack. Everybody watched as Niall tossed is ball down the lane.

****

The boys (plus Dessie) played a total of three games.  It was a good thing they started early, because it took awhile to finish all the rounds.  The first game was won by team one.  Team two then came back and won game two, what were the odds of that? Finally game three was won by team two.

Niall was ecstatic and rubbed it in Liam’s face.  Zayn had to control his team mate, and tell him to cool down.  Dessie just shook her head at her boyfriend, and continued to laugh behind her hands.  

The only reason team one didn’t win was because halfway through the third game Harry and Louis decided to suck each others face off.  Liam got them apart for their turn, which was rushed and over quickly because either boy wanted to get back to his boyfriend.Liam was just glad that nobody they knew had walked into the bowling alley.  

When the game was over; they all decided to a small Italian restaurant that was walking distance from the bowling alley.  It was a family owned restaurant that Harry was very fond of.  Louis decided it would be a nice place to work, he could have to stop by another time to see if they were hiring.  

Niall had decided that Harry, Louis, and Liam would pay for their meal, since they were the losers.  Harry claimed that to be unfair.  ”Well maybe you should have actually bowled instead of trying to suck Louis’ tonsil’s out of his throat.”  Niall had replied to his friend.  That retort had made Harry shut his mouth and agree to pay the pricey bill.

After they left the restaurant, Niall walked Dessie home.  As the walked away, Louis and Zayn had made fun of Niall, saying that Dessie had him wrapped around her finger.  

“I have Louis wrapped around my finger.”  Harry stage whispered to Liam.

That comment made Louis and Zayn stop talking.  Zayn looked between Harry and Louis, looking amused as he waited for Louis reaction.  

Instead of agruing with Harry, Louis just simply smiled.  He walked closer towards his boyfriend.  ”Yes you do.” The older boy said, giving Harry a genuine smile.

Harry’s hands came up to cup Louis’ face.  Slowly he brought their lips together in a chaste kiss.   Louis tried to deepen the kiss and ruin it’s innocence, but Harry broke the kiss before Louis could get too far.  He placed a quickly tender kiss on Louis’ lips before backing away.  The hands cupped around Louis’ face moved to the older boys hips.  

“You two are just so cute.”  Zayn quipped.  

“Be quiet you.”  Louis told his friend, wrapping his arms around Harry.  ”Are you cold?”  he asked as his hands came in contact with Harry’s cool skin.

“Just a little bit.” Harry said, not making a big deal out of it.  The weather was nice, not too cold but cold enough.  

“I’m going to take Harry home.”  Louis told Liam and Zayn as he shruged out of his coat and put it around Harry’s shoulders.  Harry didn’t protest, in fact he enjoyed Louis caring for him.

Liam nodded at Louis as he watched them walk off.  

“Our friend’s have got it bad.”  Zayn turned towards Liam, a smile evident on his face.  

Liam rolled his at the raven haired boy.  ”There’s nothing wrong with that.”  Liam told him, pointedly.  

A confused look crossed Zayn’s face before he shrugged it off.  Both boys realized this was their first time alone together since the kiss they shared a couple days ago.  The kiss they kept a secret from their friends.  They kiss they said was a mistake but neither of them couldn’t stop thinking about. The kiss they wished to repeat ever since it happened.

“Do you want to go get something hot to drink?” Zayn asked, trying to make conversation instead of just standing there awkwardly withe boy he fancied.

The younger of the two shook his head.  ”It’s getting late.”  Liam stated looking at the invisible watch on his wrist.  ”I should probably head home.” he took a couple steps backwards as if he were afraid of Zayn.  

“Alright.”  Zayn didn’t press any further.  ”I’ll talk to you later?”

“Yeah.”  Liam continued to walk away, getting further from Zayn with each step.  ”I’ll text you when I get home.”  he assured before turning around and walking off quickly.  By doing so, he missed the hurt and disappointed look that crossed Zayn’s face.


	11. Chapter Eleven

A week before Christmas, Liam stopped by the bakery Harry worked in.  Sure, he could have waited until later,  but he was going over to Niall’s later and figured he would be in a good mood if Liam brought them cakes.  He was such a good friend after all.  The bakery was on the way to Niall’s house, besides Liam needed to talk to Harry.

The bell above the door jingled when Liam walked into the bakery.  The small shop was empty, besides a man sitting at a table by the window.  So he browsed the menu and thought about what goodies he should buy as he waited.  A few moments later, Harry emerged from one of the back rooms, he didnt’ seem to notice Liam at first “May I help you?” Harry asked, reaching the front counter.  When the curly haired boy looked up, he was surprised to see Liam there.

“I’m headed over to Niall’s, what do you think he’d like?” Liam asked walking up to the counter.

“Anything, just nothing too sweet.  He’s already hyper-active enough.”  Harry smiled as he started re-organizing the baskets on the counter.

“True.  Then can I get a berry muffin, a carrot cake, and a couple of strawberry pies?”  Liam asked pulling out his wallet.

“I take it Louis and Zayn will be there?”  Liam nodded.  ”Well, in that case I would skip the carrot cake.  Louis doesn’t need any sugar, he’s as almost bad as Niall.”  

Liam sighed and rolled his eyes.  ”Then make that a carrot muffin.”  

“Sorry, we don’t sell those here.”  Harry grinned.  

“Fine! Then just get me a mixed variety of berry muffins.”

“Sure.” Harry accepted Liam’s money as he handed it over.  Then he put the money in the cash register and handed Liam back his change.  ”Don’t forget to save me some.” Harry said as he grabbed a box and started to fill it with a mix of muffins.

“Oh, are you coming over to Niall’s as well?”  Liam thought Harry was working here for a few more hours.

“Yeah.”  Harry handed Liam the muffins.  ”I get off in ten minutes.”

“I’ll just wait for you then.  I wanted to have a chat anyways.”

Harry nodded.  The guy who was stilling at the table got up and left, making the bell jingle as he left.  Harry walked over to the table and collected his tip, then wiped the table down. 

Liam stood awkwardly by the counter as he watched Harry.  The bakery was now empty, besides the two boys.  Liam wanted to talk to Harry, get his advice and come clean with everything.  He wanted to tell Harry how he felt about Zayn, about the kiss, and just everything thats been going on.  Harry might be upset with Liam for not telling him as soon as it happened, but that wasn’t fair.  Louis and Harry hid their relationship for a month or two before they told anybody.  

“I don’t where where to begin.” Liam confessed.  

“How about from the beginning?” Harry suggested as he walked back behind the counter and lend against it.  

So Liam did.  He told Harry everything, from the beginning.  First his feelings for Zayn, which Harry already suspected.  Then how his feelings increased and it didn’t help the way Louis and Harry were acting.  Harry felt bad knowing how Liam had felt, but at the same time he was proud that he got under his friends skin.

Liam told him about how he and Zayn sat down and had a talk about everything, just nothing that mattered.  Everybody knows that Zayn is gay, seriously no guy spends  _that_   much time and product on his hair.  Liam was just confused as ever, Harry thought Liam should have gone to Louis for that one.  

Finally, Liam finished telling Harry about the short, perfect kiss he and Zayn shared.  Harry was upset at first, but when Liam reasoned with him, the younger boy calmed down.  Now Harry knew all of Liams secrets, or most of them anyways - some secrets were better kept hidden.

Everything was now out in the open now, well figuratively speaking of course.  Harry decided he wanted to help get Liam and Zayn together.  All he needed was a little help.

****

“Well I should probably get to work.”  Louis told the boys as he stood uo from the couch, and away from Harry’s embracing arms.  The day after they had gone bowling, Louis decided to head back to the Italian restaurant and apply for a job there.  Almost instantly, he heard back from them.  His manager had said he was the perfect guy for the job, which was a waiter none the less.  But Louis loved it, and didn’t complain one bit.

“But the movie isn’t over yet.”  Harry protested, trying to drag his boyfriend back on the couch.

“Let me go Curly!”  Louis struggled.  ”I have to get to work so I can make money.  I need money to support you because when we get married you’ll turn into a lazy housewife!”

Harry stopped and let go of Louis.  ”What did you just say?”

“I was kidding, babe.”  Louis said as he stood up again fro the couch.  ”Everybody knows you’d make a perfect housewife!”

The younger boy nodded his head in agreement but he wasn’t really listening to what came out of Louis’ mouth.  ”Did you just say ‘ _When we get married’_?”

“Yeah, but I was kidding.”

“Oh.” Was Harry’s reply.  He didn’t object getting married to Louis.  Truth was, he didn’t even think about it.  Now when he did, he could actually picture himself getting married to Louis, living together, raising a small family, maybe even get a male cat for Lucy.

The three boys that had been silent throughout the whole fiasco, finally started to make some noise.  

“Bring me back some pasta!” Niall demanded.

“And some of that chicken stuff!” Zayn told Louis.

“Just drive there safe.”  Liam said, a soft smile on his face.  ”It started to snow awhile ago and I don’t know how bad the roads are.”

“Sir yes sir.”  Louis said as he gave Liam a solute.  Harry stood up as well, putting on his coat and shoes as was Louis.

“Are you leaving too Haz?”  Liam asked confused to why Harry seemed to be headed out.

“I think he’s going to work with Louis.”  Niall raised his eyebrows and smirked.  ”Louis going to show him how to stir the sauce, and cook the noodles.”

Harry gave Niall a confused look.  ’Stir the sauce’ and ‘cook the noodles’, really?  Leave it to Niall to come up with sexual innuendos like that, he was such a weird child.

“I think he’s just going home.  The rest of us are all boring now when Louis isn’t here.” Zayn assumed.

“No.”  Harry’s reply was short and simple.  He did feel like he should give them an explanation though.  ”I just need to talk to Louis for a moment.  I’ll be right back.”

When Harry turned around to face Louis, he saw confusion on the other boy’s face.  Giving his boyfriend a reassuring smile as he walked over and held the front door open for Louis.

It was cold and bitter outside and Harry was glad he’d put on his coat and shoes.  He walked with Louis’ to his car in silence.  

As soon as they reached the car, Louis spun around to face Harry with that same confused look on his face.  ”Listen Curly, if this is about the marriage thing earlier-“

“No, Louis I just want to talk.”  Harry assured him.

“Oh god. You’re not breaking up with me are you?”  Louis asked, his expression changing from confusion to worry.  ”I promise I’ll be better.  This is my first relationship like this, and I’m not exactly sure how it works, so I’m probably screwing it up and-“

Harry put a hand over Louis mouth to stop his rambling.  ”Calm down Boo Bear, I’m not breaking up with you.  I’m incapable of doing that.”  He left Louis relax beneath his hand. 

“You’re not breaking up with me?” Louis mumbled under Harry’s hand. 

“Nope.”  Harry shook his head and removed his hand from Louis mouth. “I have plan but I need your help.  I’ll fill you in with more later, but I want to try get Liam and Zayn together.”

“I’m in!” Louis said without hesitation.  ”I’m so helping you do this.”

“I thought so.”  Harry said with a smug smile.  ”Now, get to work so you can pay for our wedding.”  He gave Louis a slap on his rear for emphasize.  

“Yes ma’ma! I mean sir.”  Louis joked as he got into his car.

Harry smiled at Louis and almost started heading back into Niall’s house before he turned around.  He tapped on the car door window and watched as Louis rolled it down.  

“Oh, and Louis?” Harry bit his lip, actually afraid to sound like a worried housewife.  ”Take Liam’s adivce and be careful while driving.”  

Louis smiled tenderly at Harry and nodded.  ”I will, promise.”  

Harry returned his smiled before ducking his head through the window to give Louis a quick kiss goodbye. 

Harry walked back up to the porch and turned around to watch Louis drive away.   _I am so smitten with that man_. Harry thought before he turned around and walked back inside.

****

 _‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…_ well besides one person. Harry laid in his bed as the silence crept upon him.  It was frightening, he wasn’t used to this much peace and quiet.  Then again he was lost in thought and he hardly acknowledge his surroundings.

He’d know for awhile that Louis was leaving.  Louis had told him weeks ago that he was going to Paris, France for Christmas.  Every year he, his sisters, and mum would Fly to France to visit family that lived there.  It was tradition, and Harry didn’t want Louis to break a family tradition.

Today was also Louis’ birthday, and Harry was glad that he had got to spend the day with the man he loved.  Yes, Harry loved Louis, he had for awhile now.  After some thought, he’d realized that and he wasn’t too shocked about it.  Exicted more likely - he had actually fallen in love with someone.  

Sadly, Louis had to leave tonight, leaving Harry to spend Christmad alone with his family.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be with his family, he did. Harry just wished he could have spent it with Louis as well.

A knock on the door suddenly snapped Harry out of his thoughts.  Who could be at his house this time of night?  There was only one way to find out.  Harry picked up Lucy, who was sleeping on his lap, and gently placed her back on the bed.  The kitten didn’t even wake up, she just got in a more comfortable position on his bed.  Harry found some pants and a jumper and put those on.  Then he made his way downstairs to open the door.

Surprisingly, Louis was at the door.  Harry would have thought he’d be on his way to Paris by now, not at his doorstep.  He even rubbed his eyes to see if he was mistaken, but Louis was still there.

“Did I wake you?”  Louis asked as he saw Harry’s appearance.  Harry shook his head as he stepped onto the porch, shutting the door behind him.

“What are you doing here?” Louis looked like he hadn’t left yet, but he was about to.

Louis smiled shyly at Harry, before pulling him into a hug.  ”I just wanted to say goodbye.  It didn’t feel right not giving you a proper goodbye.”

“I’m going to miss you so much Lou.  But it will be for only a couple days.  You’ll be back before you know it.”  the younger boy assured.  He had to think positively, for both his and Louis’ sake.

“I’m going to miss you too Curly.”  Louis wrapped his arms tighter around Harry’s waist and nuzzled his head into Harry’ curls.

Harry didn’t want Louis to go, he was being selfish but  had a right to.  It was Christmas and Louis couldn’t go off to Paris during Christmas.  He couldn’t just leave Harry alone for the holidays, it wasn’t fair.


	12. Chapter Twelve

While Louis was in Paris, Harry spent a lot of his time with Liam and Zayn.  Niall had been off with Dessie most of the time.  It saddened Harry a bit, not spending much time with his best mate.  But spending time with Liam and Zayn was alright, even though their sexual tension and secret glances at one another made Harry miss Louis even more.

His boyfriend would be home soon.  Only a few more days and he would be back in Harry’s arms.  It wasn’t until after Louis left, did Harry realize just how much the two of them spent together.  It was crazy to think that they had only known each other for a few months.

“Haz?” Liam’s voice filled his head.

Harry perked up and looked at Liam questioningly.  The three boys were hanging out at Liam’s house, more like laying around his house.  Noone really knew what to do during the days they had off school for the holidays.  Harry wasn’t going anywere unlike Louis.  Mostly he would just hang out with Liam and Zayn, sometimes he would hang out with some other friends.  Harry even tried working longer hours at the bakery - at least that way he was earning extra money.

“Yes LiLi?” Harry asked from his position on the couch.

“Thinking about Louis won’t make him come home faster.”  Liam told him firmly.  Harry hated how Liam always knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Well I’m bored!”  Harry sighed as he stretched out.  ”If we were doing something, then maybe I wouldn’t have Louis on my mind all the time.”  Harry knew that was a lie.  Whatever he did, Louis was always on his mind.

“Let’s do something then.”  Zayn spoke around a mouthful of food.  He was just as bad as Niall with all the food he consumed.  

“I have to watch over Dannie.”  Liam told them as he looked at the staircase.

Dannie was Liam’s younger sister, at the age of fourteen.  She was good friends with Lottie, Louis’ younger sister.  Liam had the responsibility of watching her while his mum was at work during the holidays.  Dannie was infatuated with Harry, and she would always be hanging over the curly haired boy when he was around.  It scared Harry sometimes, but he thought she was cute - like a little fan of his or something.  

“Does she know her boyfriend is here?”  Zayn apparently was having the same thoughts as Harry.

“I don’t think so.”  Liam said.  ”Let’s keep it that way, yeah?”

“Why?  Shouldn’t Dannie know the love of her life is here?”  Harry did not like the expression on Zayn’s face.

“I’d rather her stay upstairs.”  Harry put in, not wanting to feel violated at the moment.

“But it’s Liam’s job to watch her.  How can he do that when she’s upstairs?”  

Zayn pushed his food away and got up from where he was sitting.  It wasn’t until Zayn walked over to the bottom of the steps did Harry realize what Zayn was planning.  But it was too later, his friend had already yelled up the stairs for Dannie to come down.  

Harry immediately shot up from the couch and ran into the bathroom.  Maybe he could lock himself in there for the time being.  Or so he hoped.

As Harry pressed his ear against the bathroom door, he could hear Dannie and Zayn talking.  It was hard to make out what they were saying, but he could definitely tell who was talking.  But soon the voices were getting louder and more clearer.

“Yeah, Harry’s just in the bathroom.”  Harry recognized Zayn’s voice.

“I didn’t even know he was here!”  Dannie exclaimed.  Harry could only picture what was actually going on outside the door.

“Yeah, Harry wanted to surprise you.”  Zayn said.  Harry wondered if Liam was with them.  Surely Liam wouldn’t be playing along with Zayn.  Liam valued Harry’s life, didn’t he?  Why wasn’t he being a good friend and protecting Harry from the fourteen year old who wanted to ravish him?

“Did he really?”  Dannies voice became high pitched for a moment.  ”Well I can honestly say I’m surprised.”

Then there was a knock on the door.  Harry was doomed.  He was honestly trapped, there was no way escaping.  He would have to face Dannie.  The small, blonde, hormonal teenage girl.  

There was a tapping noise behind him, and Harry quickly turned around.  The window! Of course, why didn’t he think of that in the first place?  Liam was at the window, tapping and gesturing for Harry to climb through and escape.  Harry decided that Liam was the ultimate best friend anyone could have.  

Harry quickly dashed to the window.  It took him a minute to figure out how to open the bloody thing, but alas he finally did.  He jumped out of the window as fast as he could.  Instead of hitting the ground, he fell ontop of Liam - his saviour.

“Thanks mate, that was a close one.”  Harry said as he stoop up and helped Liam to his feet.

“Anytime.”  Liam gave Harry a smile.  

“I should probably go now, before they figured I’m not in there.”  Harry took a look back into the bathroom.  

“Good idea.  Sorry about my sister by the way.”  

“It’s fine.  Sometimes it’s cute, and it makes Louis jealous when she does it.”  Harry smiled at the thought of a jealous Louis.  It was quiet amusing actually.  Louis getting all frustrated, but he can’t do anything about it.  Harry wish he would - wish he would just take charge and do something about it for once.  But they weren’t ‘public’ yet.  

“Harry, please don’t lead her on too much.”  Liam really cared for his sister, and he understood what Liam meant.

“Yes sir, I will try.  It’s hard to control her.”  Harry shook his head and chuckled.  ”But if you can control Zayn, then you can control Dannie.”  Harry gave Liam a cheeky wink before walking away leaving a confused Liam behind.

****

A couple days later, Harry found himself waiting at the airport.  Louis’ plane was scheduled to land soon, and Harry wanted to be here when his boyfriend arrived.  The boys had planned to meet up later, once Louis was home and unpacked.  But Harry couldn’t wait any longer, he needed to see Louis.

Just a few more moments and he would be with his boyfriend.  This past week was so dull and boring without Louis.  The older boy meant so much to Harry and without him it felt like a part of Harry was missing.  It was a different but good feeling.  Harry had never loved someone before, not like this.  

The airport was empty, after all it was late so that didn’t surprise Harry.  A few people were there, and they seemed to be waiting on someone just like Harry.  He watched a few of the people and made up stories for them.

Like for example, the older man sitting a couple chairs away from Harry, was waiting on his wife.  She had fled away to the States to visit her family, and he had missed he so much.  So he decided to meet up with her here, because he couldn’t wait at home any longer.  

Harry shook his head, he was losing it.  He didn’t know this guy, or his story.  Yet he was making one up and it was similar to his and Louis’ situation.  He really needed sleep, but honestly who could sleep at a time like this?

Harry heard his name being called.  The familiar voice made him look around, trying to find the source.  Maybe he was just hearing things? He was tired, and excited so maybe he was imagining Louis’ voice.  Then he heard his name being called again.

Standing up, he decided to try to look around - trying to spot his boyfriend.  At first he seriously thought he was going mad, until he saw him.  Louis was walking towards him with his mum and sisters following behind.  Harry had never been so happy in his life to see Louis.

Harry ran towards Louis, and flung himself in the older boys arms.  All felt right in the world again.  He felt warm and safe and like he just returned home.  It was crazy but true, he really did love this boy.

Louis looked shocked to see Harry, but he was even more happier to see him.  Their lips crash together in a welcoming kiss.  Both boys missed the feeling of their mouths moving together.  Louis was home, and he never wanted to leave Harry again.  

A throat was cleared, and the boys reluctantly pulled away from one another.  Harry refused to release Louis though, so he just held Louis in his arms.  ”Hello Harry.”  Jay said.  She looked tired and Harry forgot about Louis family.  

“Hello, how was your flight?”  Harry asked as he pulled himself away from Louis to give Jay a quick welcoming hug.  

“It was alright.”  Jay hugged Harry back.  She released him and let him go back over to her eldest child.  Those two were just so perfect together, and you could tell they genuinely cared for each other.  

“I’m surprised to see you here.”  Louis mumbled into Harry’s ear as the younger boy returned to his arms.  His mother was directing his younger sisters and trying to keep control of her family as they all were so glad to be home.

“Well I couldn’t wait to see you.”  Harry mumbled into Louis’ neck.  He didn’t care what others thought about them as they passed by.  All Harry focused on was Louis.

Harry felt Louis laugh quietly, and a smile appeared on his lips.  ”I’m glad you came.”  

Now it was Harry’s turn to chuckle. “Well not yet I haven’t.”  Louis looked confused until he realized what he had said and he felt his face heat up.

“Harry!”  Louis protested as he pushed the younger boy away from him.  ”I was trying to be all romantic with you.  Then you have to go and ruin it.”

Harry continued to laugh.  ”Well you’re the one that said it!”

Louis rolled his eyes before pulling Harry back towards him, missing his presence already.  ”Oh be quiet you.”

Harry chuckled, he couldn’t help but let out a yawn.

“You tired?”  Louis question, and Harry only nodded snuggling closer into Louis.  ”Mum is it alright if Harry stays with us for tonight?  He’s tired and I don’t want him driving.”  

Jay turned to look at her son.  ”I don’t want you driving his car if you’re tired as well, Lou.”  

“I got some sleep on the plane.”  Louis assured his mother.

She looked doubtful for a moment before nodding her head twice.  ”I’ll see you both at home then.”  She said before giving each boy a kiss on the head and leading her daughters home.

“Lets go Harry.”  Louis wrapped an arm around his boyfriend and guided them over to the front entrance of the airport.

“What about your bags?”  Harry yawned once more.

Louis gestured to the bags he was carrying in his hands.  Harry was inattentive tonight, Louis noticed.

“Oh.”  Harry said simply.  Before walking out of the warm airport with Louis, and into the cold night air.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Harry woke up with light shining on his face.  He turned his head, trying to shield hid eyes away from the warm sunlight, but all it did was cause a chuckle.  Wait - why was there a chuckle?

Then he remembered the night before, Louis was back, he was home.  Harry opened his eyes and sure enough there was Louis - smiling at him with those gorgeous blue eyes.  The sight made Harry’s breath catch in his throat and his heart skip a beat.

“Morning Curly.”  Louis’ voice was deep with sleep, which Harry found to be very attractive.

“Hey.”  Harry smiled up at the boy.

“You sleep like a baby.”  Louis informed him.  ”So soundly and peaceful.”  Harry couldn’t help but blush at that comment.

“How did you think I slept?”

“Well I might had got the impression you’d snore.”  Louis grinned then all of a sudden his face became serious.  ”At one point I honestly thought you were dead.”

Harry couldn’t help but laugh his boyfriend.  Louis smiled in return, knowing that Harry’s angelic laugh was because of himself.

“Well I’ve been told before I sleep like the dead.  Silent and hard to wake.”  Harry thought back to the times where people struggled to wake him up.  One time Liam even dumped water on him.  That, was a horrible way to wake up.

“You should have warned me of that.”  Louis gave him a skeptical look.

“Lou, you were going to find out sooner or later.  Besides, you did a good job figuring it out yourself.”

Louis huffed and crossed his arms, giving Harry an upset look now.  The curly haired boy felt bad.  But honestly, the way he sleeps doens’t cross his mind too often.  It technically wasn’t Harry’s fault, he can’t control the way he sleeps.

“So are you hungry?”  Louis asked after a moment of silence.  Harry nodded at his boyfriend.  ”Then you might want to put some clothes on.”

That was when Harry realized he was just in his boxers.  He usually slept in his boxers, but now it just felt different.  Harry slept in other peoples beds naked before, but not like this.  He had never actually  _slept_  someone before.

“Uh, do you have some clothes I could borrow?”  Harry asked sheepishly.  

Louis got off the bed and walked towards his closet, so Harry took that as a ‘yes’ and followed him.  He watched as Louis reached up to grab a white shirt and a pair of sweat pants.  Those were then tossed at Harry, who put them on.

The clothes smelled like Louis, and Harry couldn’t help the flutter in his stomach.  Harry was still amaze by the affect Louis had on him, even the slightest touch sent chills over his skin.

When Harry returned his gaze to Louis, he found the other boy watching him intently.  The flutters in his stomach were back, damn Louis.  ”What?”  he asked his boyfriend.

Louis shook his head and walked closer to Harry.  ”I was just thinking how good you looked in my clothes.”  Harry swallowed as his eyes found Louis’.  ”But I think I prefer you out of them.”  _Oh god,_ Harry thought.   _This man is honestly trying to kill me._

“Then why’d you suggest for me to put clothes on?”  Harry raised an eyebrow at Louis.  It was a valid question.  If Louis wanted him without clothes, why tell him to put them on? That just contradicts everything.

“My mum and sisters are downstairs.”  Louis said simply.

Of course, how could he forget?  Lottie had a major crush on Harry - a bigger crush than Dannie did.  It was weird at times; Louis’ younger sister throwing herself at Harry.  Well, Harry thought it was awkward at least.  Niall had a thing with the twins, they adored him and it was cute to watch them interact with the Irish lad.

“I don’t prefer to have my younger sisters ravish your naked body.”  Louis continued.

Harry smiled sweetly, but teasingly at Louis.  ”Aw, why not?”

Louis’ eyes darkened and he grabbed Harry by the waist and pulled their bodies together.  Harry decided he wasn’t that hungry anymore, well for food anyways.  ”Because you are mine.”  Louis told him and as if to prove his point, he kissed him.  Harry was surprised by his boyfriend.  Louis rarely took control like this.  Harry was usually the one to make the first move, then Louis would follow after.

Before Harry got the chance to deepen the kiss, there was a knock at the door and Louis pulled away.  His boyfriend shot him an apologetic look before answering the bedroom door.

“Hello dear.”  Jay said as Louis opened the door.  She saw Harry and shot him a pleasant smile.  ”Sorry to interrupt.”  She looked from Louis to Harry.

“It’s fine.”  Harry returned her smile.  ”We only just woke up.”

Jay gave both boys a knowing expression before nodding her head.  ”I was just checking to see if you two were up.  I’ve made breakfast, and if you don’t hurry your sisters will eat it all.”  Harry’s stomach rumbled at the mention of food, which cause Jay and Louis to smile at him.

“We were headed down anyways.” Louis assured his mother.  ”Something tells me Curly might be hungry.”

“I think you might be right.”  Jay shot Harry a playful wink.  ”Come and eat boys.”  She told them before turning around and heading back downstairs.

Harry looked to Louis, who gave him a look that said ‘we’ll finish this later’.  Then both boys followed after Jay, wanting to fill their hungry stomachs.

All four girls were sitting at the kitchen table, eating the pancakes Jay had prepared.  As soon as Lottie spotted Harry, her eyes widened and her face lit up.  Louis noticed this, and grabbed Harry’s hand and led him over to the table.  Lottie’s face dropped as soon as she saw their clasped hands.

“Good morning girls.”  Louis smiled at his younger sisters and grabbed for the pancakes.  He passed them to Harry when he took his helping.

“Hi Louis!” Daisy gave Louis a grin.

“How was your trip to Paris?”  Harry asked the girls.  They were quiet last night - probably from the plane ride home.

“It was fantastic!”  Fizz said giving Harry a big smile.  Then the young teen went on telling Harry about her favorite and least favorite parts of the trip.  Fizz was probably Harry’s favorite of the girls; she was nice and interesting to talk to.  She showed some traits of Louis’ sense of humor, but she also seemed mature for her age.

“You left out the part here Louis went on the date with that French girl, Nicolette.”  Lottie spoke for the first time that morning.  As soon as everyone realized what she said, yells and giggles filled the room.

“It wasn’t a date!”  Louis protested.  ”For the last time Lottie.”

“Sure seemed like a date to me.”

“You are 14 years old.  You don’t know anything.”  

“You are in a relationship, you shouldn’t cheat on Harry.  He doesn’t deserve that.” Lottie retorted back.

“I never cheated on him!”  Louis looked at Harry.  The boys stared at each other for a moment before Louis brought his gaze back to his younger sister.  ”And I never will.”

“You’re so sure of that are you?”  Lottie obviously didn’t believe her brother, or choose not to believe him.

“That’s enough!  Both of you!”  Jay finally said.  ”You are being very rude to our guest.”  She gave an apologetic to Harry.

Louis as well, gave Harry an apologetic smile.  Of course Louis had told him about ‘Nicolette’, a girl he had met there.  She was a friend of his cousin, and he found her to be pretty cool.  So they hung out a few times, which Lottie thought was outrageous.  Yes, Harry was slightly upset at first, but he trusted Louis.  His boyfriend would never intentionally hurt him like that.

Harry placed a hand on Louis’ thigh, as if telling him it was okay.  The he gave his boyfriend a quick kiss to assure him that he wasn’t really bothered.  That seemed to relieve Louis, who was worried about Harry’s opinion of himself.

“So Harry what are you doing for New Years Eve?”  Jay asked, trying to move away from the previous topic - which Harry was thankful for.

“I’m going to a party my friend is hosting.”  Harry told her.

“Which friend?”  Louis looked at Harry confused.

“David.”  Harry told him simply.

“David…Mathews?”  Louis questioned.  Oh great, this should be fun.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know you were friends with him again.”  Louis looked at Harry pointedly.  ”Let alone going to his party.”

Harry sighed knowing his conversation would happen sooner or later.  However, he didn’t expect to discuss this in front of Louis’ mum and sisters - who seemed to be hanging off of their every word.  

Louis didn’t like David Mathews, he never really did to begin with.  One reason might have been because he dated Harry for awhile.  Another reason could be because Louis finds him cocky and uninteresting.

“Yeah, he…uh, invited me and I said I’d go.”  Harry shrugged as if it was no big deal, which it wasn’t.

“Were you going to even tell me?”

“Of course I was Lou!  But you’ve been in France for the past week.  I was going to wait until you got back, talk about it today actually.”  Harry said.  ”I know you don’t like David, so I was going to tell you in person instead of over the phone or through text.”

Louis nodded in understanding.  It did make sense for Harry not telling him right away.  If he had, Louis would have probably been upset and jump to conclusions.  Harry was smart, Louis should remember that, and also keep in mind that Harry loved him.

“I’m going with you.”  Louis pointed out to him.  There was no way in hell that Louis would let Harry go alone to one of David Mathews parties.

“I hoped so.”  Harry grinned at his boyfriend, who in turn rolled his eyes at him.

“So you’ll both be at a party?”  Jay asked confused.

“Yeah I guess so.”  Harry looked towards Louis and smiled.

“You two are so confusing, I don’t understand your relationship at all.”  Lottie looked between Harry and Louis.

“Well we don’t have a normal relationship.”  Louis’ eyes locked with Harry’s in a blue-green passion.  The flutter in Harry’s stomach was back again.

Lottie only rolled her eyes before getting up from the table.  ”Mum, I’m going over to Dannie’s.  Alright?”  

Jay nodded at her daughter.  ”Be safe love.”

“Tell Liam that I love him!” Harry told the girl as she walked away.

“You slut!”  I thought what we had was special!”  Louis exclaimed.

“Louis! Watch your language!”  Jay looked towards her younger children before narrowing her eyes at Louis.

“Mum I know what a slut is.”  Harry couldn’t help but laugh at Fizz’s statement.  The look on Jay’s face made it even better.

Thats when Louis decided to grab Harry’s hand and run off from the table.  It was a good idea too, because Jay looked like she was about to blow her top off.

****

Harry managed to convinced Liam and Zayn both to come to David’s New Year’s Party.  It was quiet easy actually.  Louis was still a bit wary about Harry going to the party, but that as expected.  Harry wouldn’t have liked it if Louis’ ex Hannah invited him to a party.  He definitely would not have let Louis go to that party, well at least not without himself.

Niall had flown to Ireland for the New Years to visit his family.  Apparently he had even taken Dessie with him, those two seemed like they were getting serious.  Harry thought it was cute though, they were a cute couple.  He hoped they stayed together for a long time.  Dessie was good for Niall, just like Louis was good for Harry.

It was a small party David was hosting.  Harry called him the day before to get the details and to make sure Louis, Liam, and Zayn were allowed to attend the party.  Louis was even more upset that is was a smaller party.  David invited  _his_  boyfriend to a private party - and he was not okay with that.

The four boys met at Harry’s house and Harry was going to drive them all to the party.  Liam decided to be the designated driver, just in case any of the boys did drink.  Harry himself planned on having a few, if they were provided - and knowing David, there would be drinks there.

Harry knocked on Davids door as the other boys stood behind him.  When David opened the door, a smile appeared on his face.  Louis didn’t like the look the boy as giving his boyfriend, not one bit.  David seemed a little too happy to see Harry had shown up.

“Harry!” David said, pulling the curly haired boy in for an unnecessary hug.  But Harry didn’t protested as he hugged David right back.  ”I’m glad you could make it.”  the ex boyfriend said as he pulled away from the hug.  Then he seemed to noticed the other three boys and Louis swore his smile faded slightly.  ”And Liam, long time no talk.”

“Yeah.”  Liam nodded and sent David a small smile.  ”Since you and Harry spilt actually.  I was surprised to find out you two were still friends.”  

Louis smiled to himself. He forgot how much he appreciated Liam at times.

David smiled awkwardly before stepping aside, allowing the others to come in. “Well why don’t you lads come inside.”

Harry went in first, followed directly by Louis, who wasn’t leaving Harry’s side.  Though he would never admit it aloud, Harry really did love a jealous Louis.  At least Harry kew Louis actually cared, not that he had any doubts about that.

Louis followed Harry into David’s house; his boyfriend seemed to know his way around the Mathew’s household - which didn’t make Louis feel any better.  Harry stopped in a room which was occupied with two other people.

One was Harry’s friend Abby, apparently she was friends with David as well who knew?  The other person was someone Louis didn’t recognize, but he seemed to be Abby’s date for the evening.

Harry sat himself on the love seat opposite of the couch Abby and her date were sitting on.  Louis squeezed himself into the chair with Harry, but the younger boy didn’t mind.  In fact, he put an arm around Louis’ shoulders and pulled him closer to himself.  Louis felt more relieved by the tiny gesture.

Liam and Zayn apparently knew the guy Abby was with, and dragged him into a conversation.  Louis tuned them out and looked around the room.  It was nice, and judging from the pictures - David seemed to be an only child.  Louis couldn’t imagine his life without his younger sisters.

“Thanks for coming with me tonight.”  Harry whispered in Louis’ ear.

Louis nodded and turned towards his boyfriend.  Their eyes found each others, blue and green orbs met again for what it seemed like the millionth time.  All Louis wanted to do in that moment was to lean in and capture Harry’s perfect lips with his own.  But he couldn’t.

“So how did the two of you become friends?”  David asked Louis and Harry, snapping both boys out of the trance they were in.

“I decided to get to know Louis, make and effort on trying to be friends.”  Harry said looking at David.  ”Our close friends were friends with one another and it was awkward for the two of us.”

David nodded in understanding.  ”So the two of you hit it off?”

“Yeah pretty much.  I can’t imagine my life without this guy now.”  Harry grinned and pulled Louis in for a hug.

“Aw Curly, you’re so sweet.”  Louis swatted Harry playfully.

David watched the two boys banter for a bit before speaking again.  ”Louis, are you seeing anybody?”

Both boys looked at David.  Zayn and Liam stopped their conversation and looked at Louis, who seemed to be thinking for the right thing to say.  After a moment, Louis sat up and nodded.  ”Yeah I am.  But we are keeping it kind of quiet.”

Harry smiled at Louis.  ”Yeah, they are perfect together.”  he told David.

David seemed to be happy with that answer.  ”So who is it?”

“Well if I told you, I would have to kill you.”  Louis gave David a playful wink, which cause the other boy to laugh.

Before David got a chance to respond, there was a knock at the door.  He excused himself as he got up.  

Harry looked at Louis with a real smile.  ”Nice answer.”

“i was only being honest.”  Louis shrugged.

“So was I.”  Harry caught Louis’ eye.  His green eyes told him everything he wanted to say aloud, but couldn’t.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

A ‘small party’ turned out to be a minimum of 50 people - not what Louis was expecting at all.  He was glad that a lot of people showed up actually, he preferred bigger parties.  But tonight he couldn’t be too careful, he was still suspicious of David around Harry.  Louis was concerned that Harry’s ex boyfriend had an ulterior motive. 

Harry seemed to be enjoying himself very much.  The curly haired boy was dancing with Zayn since Louis refused to dance with him.  He thought of asking David to dance, but Harry really didn’t want to upset Louis.  Besides, ever since the two boys started dancing, Liam couldn’t take his eyes off of them. 

It was driving Harry absolutely insane how Liam and Zayn danced around each other. So, Harry took it upon himself to fix that.  With Louis help, he planned on getting both boys together.

“So why is it you aren’t dancing with Louis?”  Zayn asked Harry, who should have known Zayn would have wondered that.

The younger of the two figured it was best to tell the truth.  ”Louis is still wary about us coming out.  He thinks if we dance together people will suspect something.”

“So you dance with me. Now people will think somethings going on between the two of us.” Zayn pointed out.

“What makes you say that?”

“We  _are_  dancing together for one.”

“But lots of friends dance together.” Harry confirmed.

Zayn continued talking as if Harry hadn’t spoken. “Secondly, we both are gay - or uh like boys, and people know that.”

“Do you think people will assume there’s something between us?”  Harry looked at the people around them as he spoke.

“I don’t know, Haz.  But we’re friends and we do hang out a lot.  People will probably assume things.”

Harry looked back to Zayn.  ”What should we do?”

The older boy shrugged.  ”We could give them a show?”

“I have a boyfriend, idiot.” Harry smacked Zayn upside the head.

Zayn put his hands up in defense.  ”Not  _that_  kind of show!” He rolled his eyes at Harry.  ”Though I wouldn’t really mind.”

Harry slapped Zayn again.  The smirk that appeared on Zayn’s face mocked him.  ”I know I’m irresistible, but do try to control yourself Zayny boy.”

“Mind if I cut in?”  A familiar voice asked,  Harry smiled before he turned around to face Louis

“Of course you may.”  Harry moved closer towards his boyfriend.  ”Good timing too. Zayn was trying to get into my pants.  I tried to tell him I was with you, but I guess he doesn’t care about his best mate.”

Zayn gave a non-humorous laugh. “All I said was I wouldn’t mind snogging you.  You are just easy on the eyes.”

“That doesn’t make me easy in general.” Harry warned.

“I don’t want to shag you Harry”

“Why not? Am I not shaggable?”   Harry loved messing with Zayn almost as much as messing with Liam.

The black haired boy was starting to get annoyed.  Zayn let out a groan before speaking again.  ”Louis how can you put up with him?”  Louis only shrugged.

“Because he loves me.” Harry clarified.

Zayn rolled his eyes and shooed them off with a wave of his hand.  ”Oh just go off dancing into the sunset or something.”  Louis gave Zayn a small smile before taking Harry by the arm and leading him elsewhere.

Harry didn’t complain, he happily allowed Louis to drag him away from Zayn.  The older boy didn’t take him far, but he took him away from Zayn like he wanted.  Other people around the boys were dancing and having a good time.  Harry wanted to dance with Louis but was unsure if he should of not.

Before he could make any decisions, Louis pulled Harry close to himself.  Louis’ hands were resting lightly on Harry’s waist as he slowly began dancing with him.  Harry didn’t question Louis’ actions.  It was nice getting to actually dance with his boyfriend in public, no matter what the cause was.

Harry was curious though.  It just wasn’t like Louis to have a sudden change in opinion.  ”Why do you want to dance with me?”  Harry asked, trying to get an understanding.

“You are my boyfriend.” Louis said simply but he didn’t look Harry in the eyes.  That’s how Harry knew he was leaving something out, because Louis didn’t make eye contact.

Harry tried to catch Louis’ eye but the older boy wouldn’t give in.  ”Louis.” Harry tried.  Finally Louis looked at him, yet he still said nothing.  ”Earlier you were set on not dancing with me.  What changed?”

Louis instead turned away from Harry and glanced over at Zayn.  Then to David.  He couldn’t tell Harry he was jealous.  It was his own fault, he was the one who wanted to keep quiet.  So he needs to face all the consequences.  Louis just hated seeing other people flirt with  _his_  boyfriend.  Why did Harry have to be so pefect?  If he wasn’t so damn attractive, maybe then people wouldn’t flirt with him so much.

There was nothing Louis could do either, he just had to sit there and witness everything.  Well there was  _something_  he could do about it and that was coming out with Harry.  But Louis wasn’t ready yet.  It was simple really, just kiss Harry during school - or right now.  That way everyone knew Harry was his and his only.

Louis just made things complicated and he didn’t like doing so, but all these thoughts get into his head.  How will people react?  Would they be disgusted?  Shocked?  Would people think they were just messing around?  Louis wished he was more confident like Harry, who seemed to not give a fuck about what people thought.  

Finally Louis faced Harry again.  The younger boy was staring at him intently with his green eyes, waiting for Louis to say something.  ”Well now I want to dance with you.”

“Just a dance?”  Harry questioned.  Louis saw in his eyes that he wanted to know more than that.  

“No.  I want people to know your mine.”  Louis told him.  He was nervous, but coming out was going to happen sooner or later; and sooner is always better.

“Louis, are you sure?”

“Yeah.  Lets start the new year off by not hiding.  No secrets.”  Louis reflected the smile on Harry’s face.  He looked into Harry’s eyes watching as those bright orbs settled on his own mouth, then quickly back up to his blue eyes.  ”Harry just kiss me.”

Harry gave Louis an uncertain look, then search his face for any misunderstandings.  He found none.  Before anyone could stop him, he pulled Louis towards himself and kissed him.

****

After that kiss, Harry and Louis started acting like themselves again.  They were always with each other, never separated.  People seemed nonplussed by their actions, like it was normal behavior.  Louis was much relieved by that aspect.

Liam seemed shocked at the boys behavior, he didn’t think they would come out randomly like that.  Zayn however, smirked at the boys like he knew something Liam didn’t.  Liam didn’t know what upset him more: Louis and Harry, or Zayn’s knowing smirk. He hated not knowing what was going on and he planned to change that.

At that same time Harry and Louis walked past him, hand-in-hand.  Both boys had sappy grins plastered on their faces.  Liam stopped the couple, but they didn’t seem surprised by it.

“What’s going on?”  Liam gave them suspicious looks.

“Whatever do you mean LiLi?”  Louis fluttered his blue eyes at Liam.

“We are just going to get more to drink.”  Harry told him. “Did you want something?”

Liam rolled his eyes, finding it hard to be mad at them when the two were obviously so happy. “You both know what I’m talking about and I want to know why.  Why now?”

“No time is better than the present.”  Louis grinned.

“Besides it’s a new year.  So why hide?”  Harry finished off.

Rolling his eyes, Liam shrugged them off.  He knew that was probably the most answer he was going to receive.  But by all means, he wasn’t finished talking with the boys, this conversation was not over.

“Oh by the way Liam, someone was looking for you.”  Harry’s voice became serious, though his eyes shown with mischief.

“Who was it then?”

“Someone special.” Liam didn’t like the look on Louis’ face. He didn’t like how the older boys eyebrows rose suggestively.

“Just tell me.” Liam demanded, not in the mood for their games.

“It’s -” Harry covered Louis’ mouth before he could say anymore.  Liam looked at the boys in front of him.  Sure, Harry could have just put a hand over Louis’ mouth.  Instead the curly haired boy shut Louis up with his mouth. 

Liam waited for the boys to break apart from the kiss. However, Louis and Harry deepened their kiss, and started full on snogging.  That was when Liam decided to walk away and leave the hormonal boys to themselves. 

Harry reluctantly pulled himself from Louis as Liam walked away.  Louis didn’t like that and groaned as he tired to pull Harry back to him.

“Louis you almost blew it!” Harry said as he put a hand up to stop Louis.

“I’m sorry Curly.” Louis pouted.  ”But he just looked so mad.”

“That was the point!” Harry declared.

“Oh.”

Harry laughed at his boyfriend, he couldn’t stay angry at him for long.  He flung an arm around Louis’ broad shoulders, pulling him closer to himself.  Louis smiled up at Harry and brought an arm around Harry’s waist.

“Five minutes!” Somebody yelled. Harry pulled away from Louis to take out his phone and checked the time. It was five minutes ‘til midnight - time really did fly by fast.

Harry looked to Louis and batted his eyes flirtatiously at his boyfriend. “Louis will you kiss me at midnight?”

“I have to think about that Curly.” Louis smirked. Harry playfully hit him on the shoulder.  ”We could start now?”

“I don’t think I could hold my breath for that long.” Louis playfully hit Harry back and laughed.

“You know they say who you kiss on the stroke of midnight is who you’ll be with for the rest of the year.”  Harry watched Zayn as he slowly walked by listening to the two talk.  Harry smirked to himself before returning is attention to his boyfriend. “You sure you want to be me?

Harry smiled at Louis.  ”I couldn’t imagine anyone else I’d rather spend it with.”

“Oh Harry!” Louis flung himself into Harry’s arms.  ”You are turning all romantic on me now.”

“I can be romantic!” Harry protested.

“Calm your four nipples.” Louis kissed Harry quickly on the cheek.  ”I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

People around them suddenly started to count down at 30 seconds.  Harry didn’t want to wait until midnight to kiss Louis again.  He wanted to go into the new year while kissing his boyfriend. So he acted quickly while the seconds were passing.  He cupped Louis’ jaw and brought is mouth to the other boy’s for a heated kiss.

Both boys were oblivious to the people around them.  Voices grew louder as the last five seconds passed by.  The couple didn’t noticed as Zayn walking up to Liam and kissing him right at the stroke of midnight.

A certain pair of eyes were locked on Louis’ and Harry’s snogging session. But neither realized that either. In fact, they didn’t notice anything, being too caught up in one another.

****

As soon as Harry arrived home, he asked Louis to stay over for the night.  Liam was probably going to make sure Zayn ended up home safely. Louis had been drinking, and Harry would not under any circumstances let him drive home.Louis didn’t mind though, a part of him was even hoping Harry would ask him to stay.  He got what he wanted, as always.  

Both boys silently entered the Styles residence, careful not to make any loud noises.  Harry knew nobody was home, his mum had gone out to a New Years party.  But sneaking around brought excitement rush through him, and Lou just went along with it.  

By the time the boys made it to Harry’s room, they were in a fit of laughter.  Harry had just asked Louis about something that happened previously that night.  It wasn’t that funny either, both of the boys just consumed a good amount of alcohol that night.

Harry flopped down on his bed and sighed contently after he calmed down from his happy high.  Instead of laying down next to Harry, Louis popped himself on top of his boyfriend.  

  
“Hi.”  Harry said looking up at Louis.

The older boy just smiled down at Harry.  The looked at each other for a long moment before Louis leaned down and for the millionth time that night, pressed their lips together.

Harry pressed back willingly and made to wrap his arms around Louis body.  it wasn’t long before Harry felt Louis tongue pressing against his lips, asking for entrance.  Almost immediately Harry opened his mouth and gave Louis access.

Hands were slowly making their way down Louis’ back and resting against his bottom.  When Louis nibbled at Harry’s bottom lip playfully, Harry decided to push up with his hips letting Louis feel his arousal.

Louis moaned into Harry’s mouth.  The younger boy always knew how to make Louis vulnerable and melt like putty.  But that was one of the things he loved about Harry.  He loved the way he made him feel, even when they weren’t physically touching.  It was terrifying really but at the same time it wasn’t. 

Louis knew Harry had been with other guys before, so he was more experienced.  But Louis could honestly say he was ready.  Ready to give in, and go all the way with Harry.  His boyfriend had been careful and timid with their activities, not wanting to push Louis too far.  Now Louis was ready, he was certain.

Looking up at Harry, Louis’ blue eyes told him what words couldn’t.  Harry gave the older boy a look as if to ask “Are you sure?” and Louis replied with a nod.  As if to make himself clearer, Louis grabbed Harry by the neck and pulled him down into another heated kiss.

Warm hands were traveling up Louis torso, underneath his shirt.  He smiled into Harry’s mouth, there was no wasting time was there?  Louis felt like Harry was onto something, because soon he felt like there was too many clothes between Harry and himself.   _Well that defiantly needs to change_ , Louis thought.

Soon his hands were tugging at Harry’s shirt, trying to remove it without breaking the kiss.  That was impossible to do, so Harry quickly pulled off his shirt and in a matter of seconds his lips were attached to Louis again as if they never parted.

This was different for Harry.  He wasn’t used to taking things slow, but Louis was different.  Louis actually meant something to Harry, something that nobody else could ever compare to.  The younger boy wanted to take things slow, and actually  _feel_  this with Louis.

It wasn’t soon after until Louis’ hands began to linger at the hem of Harry’s jeans.   _Well, who needs slow?_  Harry thought as he felt the pleasure in his lower region.  They would have plenty of times to take things slow, just not at this very moment. 

Louis didn’t mind at all either, in fact he encouraged Harry to speed things up.  He didn’t exactly feel like being all sweet and romantic, he just wanted Harry right here, right now.  Harry happily obliged.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Liam and Zayn were doing just as well as Louis and Harry. The two boys didn’t officially come out and actually say they were together, but it was pretty obvious. With the secret glances and short chaste kisses - it was safe to say  _something_ was going on between the boys.

Harry wondered if he and Louis were that painfully obvious. No wonder people weren’t that shocked to see them together on New Years. Harry found it funny if he looked back on it now, everything was going to be perfect. Or so it seemed…

It was a couple of months into the new year, Harry and Louis were happier than ever. Louis had a job at the small Italian restaurant the boys went to once. Even though he saw Harry less, he liked his job - plus the pay was good. Louis was trying to save up to buy a flat and surprise Harry. It was hard work, but it was worth it.

“Hey Haz.” Liam said as he sat down next to Harry in history. Harry quirked an eyebrow at his friend; noticing he was sitting in Louis’ seat. That was one thing Harry enjoyed about school, he and Louis sat next to each other in every class. They were sat alphabetically and of course  **S**  was next to  **T**.

Harry nodded his head curtly at his friend. At that moment, Louis walked into the classroom. He saw Liam sitting at hs desk, so instead he perched himself on top of Harry’s desk. Harry looked expectantly at Louis who only rolled his eyes before leaning in to give Harry a quick peck on the lips.

“Oi! No PDA!” Liam clapped his hands once at the two boys, which caused a few people to look at the boys. 

“It was a little kiss Liam.” Harry sent a playful glare at his friend. “Besides, you shouldn’t be talking.”

Liam’s face reddened at Harry’s comment. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

“He’s talking about you and Zayn, LiLi.” Louis put in.

The face on Liam’s face was priceless, it resembled a fish out of water. Harry couldn’t help but laugh at Liam, only causing his friend to redden more. The red-faced boy shook his head before getting up out of Louis’ seat and sitting in his own.

Louis, however, made no move to sit in his empty seat. Harry didn’t mind though, not one bit. “So, Louis…”

“So, Harry…” Louis raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend, which Harry found attractive.

“I don’t have to work tonight.” Harry hoped his suggestion was clear enough.

Louis smiled at Harry. “Tempting..” Then his smile faded. “But I have to work.”

Harry groaned aloud, “Can you take it off? We haven’t spent time together in ages. I miss you BooBear.”

Louis smiled at Harry being sentimental, but he still shook his head. “I can’t. I need the money.” 

“I have money. I’ll get you anything you want.”

“Harry, I’m not taking your money.”

“Fine.” Harry huffed and crossed his arms over his chest resembling a child. Louis found it cute and he couldn’t help it by ruffing the younger boys curly hair. Then he quickly pressed a kiss to Harry’s head and hopped off the desk to return to his seat. Just in time too because their teacher walked into the room less than a minute later.

****

After school, Harry decided to hang out with Niall - more like he didn’t have a choice actually. The blonde boy jumped into Harry’s car after school, he knew Harry didn’t have to work so he made a move to change that.

He and Harry hadn’t spent time together in a couple of weeks. Every night after work, Harry would go over to Louis’ house or vice versa. So when Niall ambushed Harry, he couldn’t say no.

They weren’t doing anything in particular. In fact, Harry was showering while Niall snooped around his room. Niall spent a lot of time in Harry’s room so there wasn’t much snooping to actually do. 

When Harry got out of the shower he found Niall laying on his bed reading the journal Harry kept under his pillow. It was  _not_  a diary, it was only similar. Harry wasn’t phased by Niall reading the journal, it wasn’t like he had anything to hide from Niall.

“So how are you and Louis?” Niall asked Harry as he was putting on clothes.

“Great.” Harry couldn’t control the smile that appeared on his face. “Actually I’m planning on taking him on a trip.”

“What type of trip?”

“I don’t know. It just might be good for us to go away for a day or two.”

“Does he know about it?” Niall asked as he shut the journal and put it away.

“I was going to surprise him.” Harry shook out his wet curls.

Niall flinched as spare water drops flew onto his face. “Well what if he doesn’t want to go?”

“Well that’s too bad.” Then Harry walked over to his dresser to check his phone. “What about you and Dessie?”

A blush formed on Niall’s face but he said nothing. The silence made Harry turn around and gave a questioning look to his friend. “Niall…?”

“Yes?” Niall replied.

“How are things with you and Dessie?” Harry repeated once more.

Niall sighed but he smiled. “Harry I think I’m in love with her. Is it wrong to love someone so soon?”

“No.” Harry said and sat next to Niall on the bed. “No it’s not. I’m in love with Louis.”

“But the two of you have been together longer than Dessie and I have.”

“So? When you love someone, you love them. You can’t change that.”

“I don’t want to.” Niall sighed and lowered his voice. “I asked her to marry me.”

Harry didn’t realize what Niall had just said until a moment later when it sunk in. Niall proposed to Dessie? So many thoughts popped into Harry’s head. He didn’t know what to say or how to act.

So he settled with the basic question, “What?!”

Niall hesitated before answering, “I asked Dessie to marry me.”

“What did she say?” Harry asked next.

“Yes of course! Do you think she could honestly say no to me?” Harry laughed at his best friend.

“Well congrats, mate!” Harry pulled Niall in for a hug. When he pulled away he looked Niall seriously in the eyes and asked, “Is she pregnant?”

Niall gaped at Harry, “What? No!”

“People are going to think thats your reason to get married.” Harry explained.

“Dessie doesn’t believe in sex until marriage.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to gape at Niall. “You two haven’t fucked yet?” Niall shook his head. “How can you still be with her?”

“You waited until Louis was ready.” Niall pointed out. 

“That’s different.”

“No it’s not. You love him. You would have probably waited until he was 40 if he asked you to.”

“Not  _that_  long.” Harry told his friend, “but I would have wait as long as he asked me too.”

“See, no difference at all. I would wait forever for Dessie if I had to.”

Harry nodded in understanding. “So is that why you’re rushing to get married?”

“No! We’re getting married because we love each other.”

“Louis and I are in love, but we’re not getting married…we’re so young, Niall.” Harry stood up from the bed and started pacing his room. This was too much too fast. He didn’t even know if he liked the idea of his  _best_  friend getting married.

“Lots of people get married young.” Niall laid back on the bed since Harry got up. “Besides, ages ago people got married and had kids by the age of 15.”

Harry’s jaw dropped as he turned around to look at his friend. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we live in the 21 century. People don’t get married and have kids at the age of 15.”

Niall rolled his eyes and sighed. Harry understood Niall. Hell, if wasn’t for his mum, Harry would have asked Louis to marry him long ago. No actually Harry wanted Louis to drop down on one knee, while wearing a tux of course, and propose to him, ring in hand. It was cheesy but that is exactly how Harry wanted it.

After a moment of silence, Harry turns to Niall and asks, “So who’s going to be your best man?”

Niall smiled and sat up. “You are of course. But, you have to earn it or I’ll chose Liam. Or worse, Louis.” An evil grin was plastered across the Irishman’s face.

“You wouldn’t!”

“Oh but I would.”

“Fine.” Harry shook his head. “Lets go to Nandos.”

“A man after my own heart.” Niall said while putting a hand over his heart dramatically.

“Oh shut up before I change my mind.” Harry said before leaving his room.

“Wait for me!”

****

Later on that night, Louis stopped by Harry’s house after work. Harry wasn’t surprised, in fact he had been hoping his boyfriend would drop by. He was trying to finish up on his homework since he barely had any time to work on it with Niall constantly bossing him around.

After Harry took Niall to Nandos, Niall hand wanted ice cream. Then he wanted  _this_  and  _that_ , like a child. Harry was finally relieved when Niall requested to be dropped off at Dessie’s house. He however didn’t go straight home afterwards. Harry remembered somethings his mum mentioned, so he ran to the store to pick some things up.

Anne was surprised when Harry came home later that night. She didn’t actually expect her son to be listening to her, let alone go and pick up the stuff she asked for. Needless to say, she was surprised in her son’s actions recently but she only dared to question them.

Harry decided to stay in his room after that. It had been a long day and all he wanted wanted was Louis. But since he was working, he figured “ _why not get homework done_ ”. Five minutes later Harry wondered what the hell he was thinking.

When Louis walked through his door, Harry threw himself into the older boys arms, “I’ve missed you.” Harry said into Louis’ neck.

“I missed you too, Curly.” a chuckle escaped from Louis’ lips. “But it’s only been a couple of hours.”

Harry pulled away from Louis and shook his head. “It was 7 hours, Louis!”

“Have you been counting?”

“Yes..no..maybe?” Harry blushed at his own behavior.

“You’re so cute.” Louis said as he ruffled Harry’s curls.

Harry slapped his boyfriend’s hand away. “I am not cute!” he protested. “I’m manly and sexy and…rugged.”

“No you’re cute.” Louis pecked a kiss on Harry’s nose. Then he moved over to Harry’s bed and plopped himself down on it. Harry rolled his eyes at his boyfriend but didn’t argue any further. 

Instead he walked over to the bed and laid on top of Louis. Warm, strong arms wrapped around his waist. Harry couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss Louis, who responded immediately.

Harry moved his elbows to rest by Louis’ head. Looking down at the guy he loved Harry couldn’t help but smile. “Did you know Niall proposed to Dessie?” Louis didn’t seem too surprised, he only shrugged. 

“You knew!” Harry came to realization.

“I figured it out when I saw the ring on her finger.” Louis confessed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Louis shrugged. It wasn’t his place to tell Harry Besides he only found out yesterday when Dessie came into the restaurant. Louis rubbed his hands down the younger boy’s back in a comforting manner. “Do you think she’s pregnant?”

Harry laughed. “I asked Niall the same question. Apparently she’s waiting ‘til marriage to have sex.”

“Is that why they’re getting married?” It surprised Harry house much he and Louis thought alike.

“No, Niall said that they love each other that’s why they are sealing the deal.”

“Hm, maybe we should get married?” Louis suggested.  

Harry smiled down at Louis and planted a quick kiss against his lips. “Maybe one day.” Then he dropped his head down to rest his cheek on Louis’ chest. After a moment Harry felt his eyes slowly closing as Louis continued to rub his back. “Louis, will you sleep over tonight?”

Louis laughed at Harry but agreed to stay. “I don’t think Lucy will like that very much.” he said glancing down at the end of the bed where Lucy was perched. He swore that cat was glaring at him and honestly it scared him a little bit.

Harry ignored him as he continued to fall fast asleep. Louis smiled at his boyfriend before pulling a blanket over the two of them. He reached over to flip the lights off before closing his own eyes.

“I love you, Harry.” he yawned to the sleeping boy on top of him before falling asleep himself.

****

Harry knew it was wrong and he didn’t know why he decided to listen to them. He’s seen Louis talking with Eleanor alone. At first he was about to greet his boyfriend but something stopped him. So instead he hid behind the corner and decided to eavesdrop.

“So you bought the flat?” Eleanor had asked. What flat? What was Eleanor talking about?

“Yes I did.” Louis sounded happy.

“Does Harry know about it?” Eleanor questioned.  _Now I do,_  Harry thought to himself. 

A sigh came from Louis before he spoke, “No he doesn’t, but I’ll tell him soon, El.”

“You can’t keep lying to him. He needs to know the truth.” Harry agreed with Eleanor on this. Yes he  _did_  deserve to know the truth. Harry was always honest with Louis, he told him everything. Now he finds out Louis has been keeping things from him?

“I know.” Louis voice lowered. 

After a long silent moment, Eleanor spoke and she sounded nervous. “Lou, I need to tell you something.” Her voice shook and Harry could only imagine how she looked. “I…I think…I think I’m pregnant.” She finally choked out.

“What?!” Louis voice echoed through the air at the same time Harry’s heart dropped.

It all made since now! Louis and Eleanor had been sneaking around behind Harry’s back. Louis had bought himself and Eleanor a flat together. He was planning on leaving Harry - or confused on whether to or not. But now since Eleanor is pregnant, it was an easy choice. Louis was definitely leaving Harry.

Harry couldn’t take it all, he had to leave. So he turned around and ran. He ran away from the man he loved, he ran from the truth, he ran from his everything. If he were to stick around to hear the rest, he would realize how wrong he really was.

“Who’s the father?” Louis asked, concerned for his friend.

“I don’t know.” Eleanor had let a few tears fall. “It was a one night stand at a party a few weeks ago…I didn’t even know his name.”

“Oh El,” Louis said as he pulled the distressed girl in for a hug. As he did he thought about how lucky he and Harry were for not being able to have children. He hoped one day that would be possible for them, but certainly not now.

Little did he know that the man he loved had overheard part of their conversation, assumed the worst, and left.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Harry knew he should have talked to Louis, he shouldn’t have assumed the worst in his boyfriend. But right now Harry wasn’t thinking clearly as a variety of emotions shifted through him. He wasn’t about to go talk to Louis, he was still hurt and confused. Harry knew of a way to make the confusion go away and possibly the hurt.

It’s been a week since he overheard Eleanor and Louis. A week of overpowering emotions building up inside. But Harry held them down, he wouldn’t let them get out.

School hasn’t been a problem since they were on holiday break. But the first day back at school was difficult. Louis strode into English thinking every thing was okay, but with Harry - things were just the opposite. 

“Where were you this morning?” Louis asked as he turned around in his seat to face Harry. 

Harry didn’t want to respond, but he knew that would make matters worse. “I slept in.” he said. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.

“What about during break?” Louis continued, not believing Harry. “I called you multiple times. Didn’t you get my texts?”

Yes, Harry did. He had to turn his phone off because he couldn’t stand to look at the missed calls and texts, especially since more and more would appear. 

“I thought by the time I responded you’d be working or something. You’ve been working overtime haven’t you? To get more money?” Harry’s tone was anything but pleasant.

Louis even flinched a little at the tone of Harry’s voice. “Is that what this is about? Me working overtime?”

Harry didn’t have time to answer as Mr. Boyd walked into the room at that time. “Good morning.” his husky voice echoed throughout the room, ending all conversation. “I hope you all had a good break. But since we’re back I want you all to write about guilt.”

He turned and wrote two questions on the board:  _Have you ever done something you felt guilty of? Do you feel guilt easy?_  Mr. Boyd faced the class again, “This assignment ties in well with our next book. But for now, answer the questions and pass then forward when finished.” he finished with before sitting down at his desk.

Pulling out a notebook and pen, Harry thought of how ironic this assignment was. Beside him, Liam was already writing a generous amount on the page. On his other side, Niall looked like he was about to fall asleep. His elbow was propped up on the desk, holding his head up. Harry didn’t know whether he should laugh and make fun of his friend, or simply feel sorry for the tired boy.

Instead he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the Irishman. Then he returned his attention back to his assignment. _Now, what to write about.._ , he thought for a moment before putting his pen against the paper. 

_Guilt. I’m not one to feel guilty too easy. Sometimes I find myself feeling guilty for no reason, but that’s normal - I think? Recently I found out someone I love has been lying to me. I know I should listen to them but I feel all these emotions. They all crash down on me. I feel guilty about shutting Lou-, this person out. But I’m hurt, I need time. I miss this person so much, but I can’t talk to them. So guilty would describe how I’m feeling when I have no reason to be._

  
Harry looked over his paper once more before passing it forward. After a moment he realized that he made a mistake. Louis was sure to read Harry’s paper before passing it forward. Harry should have gave it to Liam and sent it up his row. Then again, Liam would have read it as well.

Louis turned around and gave Harry an confused look, interrupting the younger boy from his thoughts. Harry only turned his attention from Louis to his phone. He should have known that wouldn’t stop Louis, the older boy decided so send Harry a text. Clever boy. But as Harry received it, he put his phone down and laid his head on the desk. Who knew it could be so hard avoiding Louis Tomlinson?

Harry remembered back to when he didn’t know Louis. He remembered how he thought Louis despised him, so he avoided Louis like the plague. Those days were much simpler, but he wouldn’t changed what happened. Loving Louis was the best thing that’s ever happened to him, or the worst - he hasn’t decided yet.

“Okay,” Mr. Boyd said as he went around collecting the papers from each row. Harry lifted his head up, trying now to focus. “I want you to get with a partner for this next assignment.”

Before Louis could turn around, Harry scooted his desk over towards Niall, claiming him as his partner. 

Harry turned back to Louis, watching him gesture towards Eleanor. Oh hell no, that was not going to happen. Louis was still his boyfriend and Harry was not going to let that happen.

“Sorry Niall, work with Eleanor, yeah? Talk about wedding plans and Dessie. Or uh, pizza.” Harry spoke quickly as he moved his desk back over toward Louis. 

He probably looked like a crazy person, if anyone was watching him. But he didn’t care to be honest, Eleanor wasn’t going to work with  _his_  boyfriend. It’s not like Louis was protesting, in fact he smiled. A smile which he tried to hide, but Harry had already seen.

Harry watched the other people in his class as they hurried to find partners. Niall worked with Eleanor like Harry suggested, and of course the Ziam couple worked together. He told himself he wasn’t going to talk to Louis, only for the assignment - no matter how hard it would be. 

Apparently that wasn’t okay with Louis, so tried to start up many conversations. Harry ignored his determination and focused on the assignment. It was going good until Louis asked that one question that made Harry drop his pen and look up at the older boy.

“Do you not love me anymore?” Louis had asked. His voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

Harry quickly grabbed onto Louis’ hands, which happened to be on top of the desk. “Of course I love you, Lou.” He gave his boyfriend a small smile. “Don’t you ever think that has changed. I love you and I will probably love you until the day I die.” 

Louis frowned but he gave Harry’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Then why are you acting this way? What did I do?”

Harry sighed and pulled his hands away from Louis, “Can we not talk about this here?”

Louis nodded and said no more. Harry called his name, causing Louis’ blue eyes to meet his green ones.

“I love you.”

Louis smiled, “I love you too.”

****

For the rest of the school day, Harry continued to ignore Louis. After the brief conversation with his boyfriend he even found it harder to look at him. He knew if he were to look over at the boy then he would melt. All the feelings would vanish and he didn’t want that.

As soon as the last bell rang, Harry was out that door within five seconds. Now he could go home and ignore the world as he would just cuddle up in bed with Lucy. It sounded- 

Someone called his name, causing him to look up. Niall was running towards him, “Harry I need a ride.”

Harry smiled at his best friend and nodded, “Alright, lets go.”

So the two boys walked side-by-side out of school and towards Harry’s car. As Niall climbed into the car, he had a mischievous look on his face, which quickly disappeared when Harry noticed it. 

“Where am I taking you?” Harry asked trying not to thinking about what Niall had planned.

Niall seemed to think for a moment, “How about your house?”

Having Niall over wouldn’t be  _too_  bad, so Harry agreed as he put his car in drive and headed home.

****

While Harry was taking his daily after school shower, Niall took Harry’s mobile device. With it he quickly called Liam who answered on the second ring. 

“Finally!” Liam’s voice traveled through the phone.

“He’s in the shower.” Niall informed Liam.

“Obviously. I doubt Harry would agree to this.” Niall could imagine Liam rolling his eyes at him.

Niall stuck his tongue out at the phone knowing Liam couldn’t see him. “You bringing the other two?”

A car door was shut before Liam spoke. “Yeah, just got in the car.”

Niall glanced back to the bathroom door, double checking to make sure Harry was still in the shower. “Well hurry up!” he whispered into the phone before hanging up and putting Harry’s phone back where he found it. Every time he looked out the window nothing seemed to change. But as soon as he saw Liam’s car coming down the street, he ran out of Harry’s room and down the stairs. 

The blonde boy stood at the front door and waited impatiently for the boys to come inside. He was just too excited for the plan, which was basically to find out what was wrong with Harry. Their friend had been acting out of sorts lately and none of them knew why.

“Niall, you need to calm down.” Liam told him as he entered the house.

“Have you been like this since school? How has Harry not caught on to you by now?” Zayn wondered aloud.

Niall waved his hand at Zayn, ignoring his question. “He’s been in the shower” he explained. “Where he’s wet and naked.”

Louis groaned, causing Niall to laugh loudly.

“Niall?” Harry’s voice came from upstairs. 

Niall froze. Liam ushered himself, Louis, and Zayn into the kitchen to hide. “I’m in the kitchen sweet cheeks.” Niall called up to Harry, walking towards the kitchen.

Harry made a noise of protest, “Just stay away from the stove. And knifes.” he warned. “And don’t feed my cat!”

Louis laughed from the kitchen, which Harry must have heard and recognized. “Lou?” 

“What Haz?” Niall asked, trying to cover up the laugh Louis let out.

“Nothing, I’m hearing things.” Harry said softly. “I’ll be down soon. Right after I put clothes on.”

Niall nodded before realizing Harry couldn’t see him. “Yeah, okay Hazza.” Then quickly, Niall all but ran the rest of the way into the kitchen. Liam was sat at the table with Zayn while Louis was standing up with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed at Niall.

“Sweet cheeks?” Louis asked raising an eyebrow at the Irish boy.

Niall was confused for a moment before he realized that’s what he called Harry. A teasing grin appeared on his face, “You jealous Louis?”

Louis shook his head, “Just because Harry isn’t talking to me doesn’t mean he still isn’t  _my_  boyfriend.”

“I know that.” Niall assured. “Besides I’m almost a married man.” Niall watched Louis as he visually relaxed.

Louis didn’t have time to reply as Harry walked into the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes looked at at boys that occupied his kitchen. As soon as Harry tried to turn around and walk back out, Louis grabbed his arm gently. 

“No, please.” Louis pleaded, trying to get him to stay and talk to them. Harry pulled away at Louis’ touch, but reluctantly he stopped.

Liam stood up from the table and walked over to the two boys. “Harry, talk to us.”

“About what?” Harry turned around and asked Liam. 

“About what’s been bothering you.” Liam clarified.

Harry’s eyes flickered at Louis before looking back at Liam. He shrugged, “Nothings bothering me.”

“You’re lying.” Louis stated. “I can tell when you’re lying.”

For some reason that infuriated Harry, “Ironic because I don’t have a clue when  _you_  are lying directly to my face. I thought I did, but you’ve been lying to me the whole time haven’t you?”

“Harry, what-?” Louis began to ask before Harry cut him off.

“Don’t play stupid.” Harry snapped, making everyone in the room look at him in shock. “I know about your affair with Eleanor. I know you knocked her up. I know you plan on leaving me for her. God ahead and end it Louis. Break up with me so you can be be with her and have a perfect life living in the flat you bought for her.”

Nobody moved or even spoke, they all were still shocked by Harry’s outburst. Unfortunately, the silence didn’t work for Harry. He was going to end this then and there, but he couldn’t. So instead the curly haired boy turned around and walked out. A few moments later a door from upstairs was slammed shut.

Louis wanted to run after him, comfort and try to reason with Harry. But thinking back on the look Harry has on his face, stopped him. Warm tears rolled down his face, Harry was so hurt yet so wrong. Louis couldn’t find himself to be angry with the younger boy.

“Lou?” Liam spoke softly as if he talked any louder Louis would shatter. Liam was just worried about his friend, Louis looked so broken. Normally his blue eyes would be glistening, but they just looked like a dull grey. 

Niall came up behind Louis and wrapped his arms around the older boy. Louis appreciated the hug, a Niall hug really did make you feel better. He pressed himself back into Niall, soaking in the warmth his friend was giving him. Another pair of arms wrapped around himself and Niall and Louis instantly knew it was Zayn.

Louis was just confused how Harry came about with his information. He didn’t know how Harry figured out about the flat, but his boyfriend was wrong. Louis wasn’t cheating on Harry, he wasn’t lying. Okay, maybe he  _withheld_  information, but he certainly didn’t lie. Especially not to Harry.

“Harry was mistaken, right?” Niall asked a while later when Louis was able to speak again. 

Louis wasn’t going to lie to Niall, “I did by a flat, but I bought it for Harry and myself. I was never with Eleanor, I wouldn’t do that to Harry.”

“Is she pregnant?” 

“Yes. Only El and I know though, I went with her to the doctors over break.” Louis paused for a moment. “I don’t even know how Harry found out, unless El told him…”

“Would she do that?” Zayn asked, joining the conversation.

“No.” was Louis’ immediate answer. “I mean Eleanor has feeling for me, she told me herself. But I don’t think she would do anything like that. She knows how much I love Harry.”

The boys nodded and dropped the conversation. Little did they know, Harry was listening to their conversation. A couple minutes after he stormed upstairs, he silently snuck back down to figure out if his friends stayed. 

Now Harry knew the truth and wished he hadn’t made such a big deal about things, guilt traveled through him. He hated himself for what he did to Louis, who did nothing wrong. Hell, Louis was perfect. 

“Loueh?” Harry heard Zayn’s voice.

“I’m fine.” Louis said. Harry wasn’t even in the same room and he could tell Louis wasn’t fine. He needed to fix this, after all everything that happened was his fault he had to go and make assumptions about everything. Harry hurt the person he loved most in the world, and it was killing him inside.

Taking a deep breath, Harry walked back into the kitchen. Liam was the first one to notice his presence. The other three boys turned to see Harry after seeing Liam’s gaze.

“Harry.” Louis breathed. A hopeful look appeared on Louis’ face.

“Can I uh, can we talk?” Louis nodded eagerly at Harry. The couple waited for their friends to leave, but no movement was made.

“Oh just go talk it out elsewhere!” Niall urged them. “There is food in this room, and it is begging for my attention.

Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend before turning around walking back out. Louis all but ran after Harry, resembling a puppy following his master. The younger boy lead them up to his room. It probably wasn’t the best idea, but he didn’t exactly want his friends to overhear. 

As soon as Harry shut the door to his bedroom behind him, he turned around to look at Louis. His boyfriend stood awkwardly in the middle of his room. It was odd seeing Louis like this, usually the boy made himself comfortable in Harry’s room. Now he just looked so out of place.

Harry knew he needed to fix this. He needed Louis. The younger boy just didn’t know what to say, so he settled for the simple solution. “I’m sorry.” he whispered.

If Louis hadn’t seen Harry’s mouth move, he would have though his mind were playing awful tricks on him. He wanted to say something, be he too didn’t know what to say.

“Say something. Please?” Harry begged. 

“I don’t know what to say Harry.” Harry should have felt anything other than happiness, but Louis said his name. Louis rarely said Harry’s name, usually opting to  call the younger boy by pet names. Hearing his name come from Louis’ mouth made Harry’s stomach flutter. 

There was a moment of silence before Louis spoke again, “I’m sorry too.”

“For what?” Louis had nothing to be sorry for, in Harry’s opinion.

“I shouldn’t have lied to you… I should have just told you what my intentions were.” Louis bit his lower lip, causing Harry’s eyes to follow the movement.

Harry took a couple steps closer to his boyfriend, “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

“I don’t blame you. I would have too.” Louis offered Harry a small smile.

“Is there a chance you’ll ever forgive me?”

“I’m the one that needs to be forgiven…”

Harry didn’t know what ignited his decision, maybe it was being apart from Louis for too long, but he found himself in the older boys arms. His lips were on Louis’ warm ones. The kiss was needy and messy. It was perfect, just what they needed.

The boys fell back on Harry’s bed, kissing intently. Warm hands traveled down and held Harry’s waist. Harry had missed Louis’ touches, the way the older boy made him feel by just one touch. Arousal soon came over Harry as he pushed his hips forward into Louis’, earning a small gasp from the older boy.

For a moment the kissing stopped and the boys just gazed into each others eyes. “I love you.” Harry said softly. 

“I love you too, Harry.” Louis smiled tenderly at his boyfriend before capturing Harry’s lips in a kiss.

****

Back downstairs the other boys made themselves comfortable in Harry’s kitchen. Zayn was sitting at the kitchen table paying with his phone. Liam was preparing food as Niall watched him, breathing down his back. 

“How long do you think they’re going to take?” Zayn sighed, putting his phone down.

Liam and Niall both turned around to look at Zayn. “Well Zayn, they haven’t spent  _quality_  time together in over a week. So, I’ll say an hour or two.” Niall said before turning his attention back to his food.

“Fuck.”

“That’s probably what they are doing now.” Niall said, he didn’t seem to be affected at all by the boys upstairs.

“How does that not bother you? Knowing your best mate may or may not be upstairs banging your other friend?”

Liam then decided to join the conversation, “This is Louis and Harry we’re talking talking about. Those boys don’t care who is in the room.”

“They even went at it while I was in the same room, on the same couch.” Niall turned and told Zayn. The raven haired boy’s eyes grew wide in disbelief.

“They didn’t!” shock was evident on Zayn’s face.

“Oh, they did.” Niall laughed. “Are my pancakes ready yet?”

Liam rolled his eyes before putting one of the cakes on a plate. “I hope Dessie knows how to cook.”

Niall laughed as he waited for the rest of the pancakes. One was simply not enough for the Irish lad. “She makes me pasta sometimes.”

A smile appeared on Liam’s face. Finally the rest of the food was done and Niall was able to eat. Liam sat at the table beside Zayn, their hands found each other.

Awhile later, the shower turn on again, followed by laugh which obviously came from Harry. Liam smiled to himself. It seemed like forever ago since he heard his friends laugh. Everyone he cared about seemed to finally be happy, he was happy. Maybe this was the suppose to happen all along. It happened exactly the way it should have been.

_fin._


End file.
